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THE PRESIDENTS OF MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL 

COLLEGE 
J. R. Williams, 1857-1859 T. C. Abbot, 1862-1884 

Edwin Willets, 1885-1889 Oscar Clute, 1889-1893 

L. G. Gorton, 1S93-1895 J. L. Snyder, 1896- 



Semi-Centennial Celebration 

of 

Michigan State Agricultural College 



MAY TWENTY-SIXTH, TWENTY-NINTH, THIRTIETH 
AND THIRTY-FIRST 

NINETEEN HUNDRED SEVEN 



Edited by Thomas C. Blaisdell, Ph.D. 
Published by the College 



Iwo Oooies •<SlV :? 

SEP \2 )yo8 



Copyright 1908 By 
Thomas C. Blaisdell 



Published July 1908 






Composed and Printed By 

The University of Chicago Press 

Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 



General Program i 

Baccalaureate Sermon, by President Matthew Henry 

BUCKHAM 13- 

THE COLLEGE AND THE STATE 

Address for the State, by Governor Warner . . 25 

Address for the Grange, by George B. Horton, Master 29 
Address for the Farmers' Clubs of Michigan, by 

President Lucius Whitney Watkins ... 36 

Address for the Agricultural Society of Michigan, 

BY Secretary I. H, Butterfield .... 40 

Address for the Michigan Engineering Society, by 

Mr. Frank Hodgman 47 

Address for the Normal Schools, by President Jones 51 
Address for the Denominational Colleges, by Presi- 
dent Bruske 55 

Address for the Public Schools, by State Superin- 
tendent Wright 57 

THE BUILDERS OF THE COLLEGE 

The College and the Students, 1857-1860, by Mr. 

C. J. Monroe 61 

Members of the Early Faculty, by Professor Cook . 71 
How They Taught in the Early Days, by Doctor 

Bessey 82 

The College in 1870, by Doctor Beal .... 88 
Early Members of the Governing Board, by Mr. C. 

W. Garfield 93 

Mendelssohn's Oratorio Elijah 99 

V 



vi TABLE OF CONTENTS 

OPEN SESSION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AGRICUL- 
TURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS 

PAGE 

Development of Agricultural Education, by Commis- 
sioner Brown . 103 

Development of Engineering Education in the Land- 
Grant Colleges, by President Stone . . 114 

The Authority of Science, by Director Jordan . . 128 

ALUMNI DAY EXERCISES 

The Alumni Business Meetings 149 

The Alumni Luncheon 152 

The Alumni Literary Exercises 

President's Address: "The Alumnus as a Citizen," 

BY Mr, R. a. Clark, 1876 157 

Address: "Insulated Wealth," by Mr. Ray Stan- 

NARD Baker, 1889 164 

Poem: "To Old M. A. C," by Mrs. Pearl Kedzie 

Plant, 1898 173 

"Sketches by the Historian," by Mr. C. J. Mon- 
roe, 1861 175 

"Necrology," by Professor H. W. Mumford, 1891 184 

Memorial Day Address, by Congressman Washington 

Gardner 189 

Campus Illumination, Reception, and Promenade Con- 
cert ......... 199 

JUBILEE EXERCISES 

Address for the Department of Agriculture, by 

Secretary Wilson ...... 203 

Address for Michigan and its University, by Presi- 
dent Angell ....... 208 

Address for the East, by President Stimson . , 211 

Address for the South, by President White . . 220 

Address for the West, by President Wheeler . . 224 

Address for the Middle West, by President Janes . 227 



TABLE OF CONTENTS VU 
COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES 

PAGE 

Address, by President Roosevelt .... 239 
Conferring of Bachelors' Diplomas, by President 

Roosevelt 256 

Conferring of Honorary Degrees, by President Sny- 
der ......... 257 

Congratulatory Addresses Presented by Delegates . 263 

Congratulatory Messages Received by the Committee 307 

List of Delegates and Distinguished Guests . . 363 



GENERAL PROGRAM 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



BACCALAUREATE SERMON 

SUNDAY AFTERNOON 

MAY TWENTY-SIXTH AT HALF-PAST THREE O'CLOCK 

COLLEGE ARMORY 

BY 

MATTHEW HENRY BUCKHAM, D.D., LL.D. 
President of the University of Vermont 



MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
THE COLLEGE AND THE STATE 

WEDNESDAY MORNING 

MAY TWENTY-NINTH AT TEN O'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY TENT 

PROGRAM 

Address for the State 
By His Excellency Fred Maltby Warner 

Governor of Michigan 

Address for the Grange 

By Hon. George B. Horton 

Master 

Light Cavalry Overture (Suppe) 
By the College Band 

Address for the Farmers' Clubs 

By Hon. Lucius Whitney W^atkins 

President 

Address for the Agricultural Society 
By Hon. Ira Howard Butterfield 

Secretary 

Address for the Engineering Society 
By Mr. Frank Hodgman 

President 

AuF WiEDERSEHEN {Bailey) 

Address for the Normal Schools 

By President Lewis Henry Jones 

Ypsilanti Normal College 

Address for the Denominational Colleges 

By Doctor August F. Bruske 

President of Alma College 

Address for the State Board of Education 

By Hon. Luther L. Wright 

Superintendent of Public Instruction of Michigan 

March Comique {Hall) 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



THE BUILDERS OF THE COLLEGE 

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 

MAY TWENTY-NINTH AT TWO O'CLOCK 
COLLEGE ARMORY 

PROGRAM 

Chicago Tribune March {Chambers) 
By the College Band 

Address — "The College and the Students, 1857-1860" 

By Hon. Charles Jay Monroe 

President of the State Board of Agriculture 

Address — "Members of the Early Faculty" 

By Doctor Albert John Cook 
Professor of Biology in Pomona College, Claremont, Cal. 

Address — "How They Taught in the Early Days" 

By Doctor Charles Edwin Bessey 
Dean of Industrial College and Professor of Botany, University of Nebraska 

Cornet Solo — Schubert's "Serenade" 
By Mr. A. J. Clark 

Address — "The College in 1870" 

By Doctor William James Beal 
Professor of Botany in This College Since 1870 

Address — "Early Members of the Board" 

By Hon. Charles W. Garfield 
Member of Board from iSyy to iSgg 



MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



MENDELSSOHN'S ORATORIO 
ELIJAH 

WEDNESDAY EVENING 

MAY TWENTY-NINTH AT EIGHT O'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY TENT 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



OPEN SESSION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND 

EXPERIMENT STATIONS 

PROFESSOR LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY 
Director of the College of Agrtculture of Cornell University 

Presiding 

THURSDAY MORNING 

MAY THIRTIETH AT NINE O'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY TENT 

PROGRAM 

Overture — "If I Were King" (Adam) 

By the Bach Orchestra 

Address — "Development of Agricultural Education" 

By Doctor Elmer Ellsworth Brown 
United States Commissioner of Education 

Address — "Development of Englneering Education" 

By Doctor Winthrop Ellsworth Stone 
President of Purdue University 

La Feria from "Los Toros" {Lacome) 

Address — "The Authority of Science" 

By Director Whitman H. Jordan 

Of the Geneva {N. Y.) Experiment Station 

Grand March {Christopher Bach) 



MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



ALUMNI DAY EXERCISES 

THURSDAY 

MAY THIRTIETH 

PROGRAM 

II A. M. 

Alumni Business Meeting 
College Chapel 

12 M. 

Alumni Luncheon 
Assembly Tent 

2 P. M. 

Alumni Literary Exercises 
Assembly Tent 

(For detailed program see next page.) 
5-8 P. M. 

Class Reunions 
Various places 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



ALUMNI LITERARY EXERCISES 

THURSDAY AFTERNOON 

MAY THIRTIETH AT TWO O'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY TENT 

PROGRAM 
Overture — "Light Cavalry" (Suppe) 

President's Address 
By Mr. Russell Allen Clark, 1876 

Oration 

By Mr. Ray Stannard Baker, 1889 

"Cavatina" (Raff) 

Poem 
By Mrs. Pearl Kedzee Plant, 1898 

History 

By Mr. Charles Jay Monroe, 1861 

Fantasia from "II Trovatore" (Verdi) 

Necrology 
By Herbert Windsor Mumpord, 1891 



lO MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY 

THURSDAY AFTERNOON 

MAY THIRTIETH AT FOUR O'CLOCK 

ASSEMBLY TENT 

PROGRAM 

Memorial Day Parade 

By THE College Battalion 

On Athletic Field at four o'clock 

Musical Program 
By the College Band 

Memorial Day Exercises 
Assembly Tent at the close of the Battalion Parade 

Invocation 
By Doctor Frank Gibson Ward 

Memorial Day Address 

By Hon. Washington Gardner 

Member of Congress of the Third Michigan District 

THURSDAY EVENING 

MAY thirtieth 

Illumination of Campus 

At eight o'clock 

Parade by the Students with College Songs 

The "Oak Chain" Fancy March 
By the Young Women of the College in Front of the Women's 

Building 

Bonfires in Front of Wells Hall 

Reception to Delegates, Alumni, and Friends of the 

College 
College Armory at nine o'clock 

Orchestra Concert 
Assembly Tent adjoining College Armory from g to ii P. M. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION II 

JUBILEE EXERCISES 

FRIDAY MORNING 

MAY THIRTY-FIRST AT NINE o'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY TENT 

PROGRAM 
Procession of Delegates, Alumni, Faculty, and Students 

Invocation 

Rev. Horace Cady Wilson 
Lansing, Mich. 

Reception of Congratulatory Addresses 

From Other Institutions and Learned Societies 

March — "Badger State" {Christopher Bach) 

Polonaise from "Mignon" (Thomas) 

Address for the Department of Agriculture 

By Hon. James Wilson 
Secretary 

Address for Michigan and Its University 

By President James Burrill Angell 
University of Michigan 

"The Nightingale and Thrush" (Bosquetto) 

Address for the East 

By President Rufus Whtttaker Stimson 

Connecticut Agricultural College 

Address for the South 

By President Henry Clay White 

College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, University of Georgia 

Solo for Cornet with Orchestra 
Address for the West 

By President Benjamin Ide Wheeler 
University of California 

Address for the Middle West 

By President Edmund James Janes 
University of Illinois 

Wedding March (Mendelssohn) 



12 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES 

FRIDAY AFTERNOON 

MAY THIRTY-FIRST AT TWO O'CLOCK 
COLLEGE CAMPUS 

PROGRAM 

March International (Lincoln) 

Overture from "Martha" {Flotow) 

Singing of Mendon 
By the Audience 

Invocation 

By Rev. Elisha Moore Lake 

Address 

By the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt 

Singing of America 

By the Audience 

Conferring of Baccalaureate Degrees 

Conferring of Honorary Degrees 

By President Jonathan LeMoyne Snyder 

Overture from "Cyrano" {Christopher Bach) 



SOCIETY BANQUETS AND REUNIONS 

FRIDAY EVENING 

MAY THIRTY-FIRST AT SEVEN O'CLOCK 



BACCALAUREATE SERMON 



BACCALAUREATE SERMON 



PRESIDENT MATTHEW HENRY BUCKHAM 
University of Vermont 



Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from 
following the sheep, to be ruler over my people. — II Sam. 7:8. 

This is so frequent an occurrence in human experience, the 
calling of men from the sheepcote to national leadership, that 
it has become a commonplace of moralists. But it never ceases 
to be an impressive fact, and may well be studied for the instruc- 
tion with which it is charged. The callings of divine Providence 
rest on good reasons which we may well seek to discover. Why 
are shepherds of sheep so often called to be kings of men ? 

I. Let us try to get the essential out of that which is inciden- 
tal in the fact under review. The pastoral calling stands for 
much in itself. It is human life as first organized — social 
life in its freshness and simplicity. Idealized in after ages it 
inspires the poetry of the idyl and the pastoral. When life 
becomes luxurious and corrupt a Tacitus or a Rousseau recalls 
the pastoral life to men's imagination, and it becomes the fashion 
to mimic its simplicity and innocence. But that which is good 
in the pastoral life takes on a larger good in the more developed 
agricultural life with its fixed homes, its seed time and harvests, 
its granaries and fruits. God calls men to leadership also 
from the furrow, from the harvest field, from the garden and 
the vineyard. And we cannot stop here. From every humble 
calling in Hfe men have been advanced to high station — from 
fishing and tent-making, from type-setting and rail-splitting, 
from the tanner's vat and the shoemaker's bench, from the 
sailing craft and the ferry boat, from opening and shutting of a 
steam valve, from a hundred arts and industries. And was 

IS 



i6 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

not the world's supreme leader taken from the bench of the 
carpenter ? 

But we should make a great, though common, mistake if we 
should conclude from these facts that the larger life is a soil in 
which the masterful virtues cannot grow. This life also has 
furnished to mankind its share of leaders. The noble famiUes 
of the nations have had their representatives in the fields where 
great deeds have been wrought. "Noblesse oblige" has been 
not only a cry but a power. We look especially to this life for 
certain quaUties essential to the highest manhood, for what we 
call the chivalrous qualities, courtesy, refinement, a delicate 
sense of the respect due to others, toleration, frankness, charity. 
But these are councils of perfection not fundamental principles, 
flowers rather than roots of character. A man can have them 
and not be a leader. The prime, essential, indispensable 
virtues and qualities which make strong and prevaiUng man- 
hood and womanhood are of another order. What are they ? 
Why do we look for them ; why does God himself seem to find 
them more frequently in some callings than in others; and 
how can we retain them as life becomes more complex and 
artificial ? 

2. We shall very soon in this quest, I think, reach the con- 
clusion that what we call character depends largely on the 
existence and paramountcy of a few simple primordial virtues 
which are within the reach of all, not dependent on special gifts 
or opportunities. They are : 

a) The economic virtues, industry, thrift, sobriety, including 
also an instinctive and persistent horror of waste, waste of 
substance, of time, of opportunity, of life, of self. A teacher, 
an employer of men, can usually pick out those who are fore- 
ordained to promotion and success. They are those who are 
toiling upward while their companions loiter and dawdle and 
sleep. One great advantage which the shepherd lad and the 
boy from the artisan's family have is that these are virtues of 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 17 

necessity to them, and having been once acquired are available 
in other and higher affairs. 

b) Next are the domestic virtues — love of kin, fidelity to 
home and friends and neighbors, the respect of the sexes for each 
other, and the sanctity of marriage. Not only are these virtues 
in themselves, but they safeguard all other virtues. One who 
keeps himself in close touch with father and mother and sister, 
who feels that everywhere kind eyes and kind hearts are follow- 
ing him, and that to bring gladness to those dear eyes and 
hearts would be the greatest joy to him, will never go far astray 
and may even for their sake do things beyond himself. 

c) Again, the patriotic virtues. We have seen in this country 
— and have read the same story over and over again in the history 
of other countries — how strong a force in the development of 
character is the principle of patriotism — how it sobers, steadies, 
and enlarges manhood, and womanhood too — how, when the 
emergency comes which rouses patriotic feeling, it suddenly, 
in a single day, changes a boy into a man ; a girl into a woman — 
how it pushes aside with a Dante-like contempt those who can 
only carp and jeer while others do the fighting and the work, 
and steps out into the arena of strife ready to dare all and do 
all for some just and holy cause. 

d) And, crowning all, the rehgious virtues, those which have 
their source in religion, and especially in what the Scriptures 
call the fear of God, which does not mean dread of God, terror 
in the thought of God — and yet is not the same as the love of 
God which is a high attainment, the outcome of experience and 
reflection and prayer — but that primary right feeling toward 
God which is made up of awe and reverence and devoutness — 
the feeling toward God which men have who get their religion 
from nature and much personal thought and the spirit of God, 
rather than from books and human teachings. Other environ- 
ments are favorable to other types of religion — beautiful types 
some of them, the ascetic, the contemplative, the mystic — but 



l8 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

the religion which tends to make men staunch, robust in practical 
affairs, good at need, good in all winds and weather, is the 
kind which comes through the experiences of shepherds and 
tent-makers and fishermen. 

3. But the youths that have had this training in the pastoral 
and home-bred virtues, can they keep it in the larger hfe which 
opens before them ? No doubt the life of freedom and oppor- 
tunity endangers these virtues. They were never more sympa- 
thetically portrayed than in the ''Cotter's Saturday Night," 
and yet Burns went out from such a home to encounter the 
temptations of luxurious society and to fall before them. The 
son of the man whom God called from the sheepcote to leader- 
ship lost the fundamental virtues of which we have spoken, 
lost his strenuous manhood and became a voluptuary, lost 
domestic virtue, lost national pride and loyalty in a lax cosmo- 
politanism, lost the fear of God, and in consequence descended 
from the high place he ought to have kept to be a roue, a cynic, 
a trifler, a virtuoso in "ivory and apes and peacocks." Men 
doubtless moralized on it as men do now, and said, " See what 
has befallen the son of the man whom God called from the sheep- 
cote to be leader of Israel, and know that wealth and prosperity 
and power are not good for man ; they ensnare and corrupt him, 
it were better for him to have followed the sheep." 

But is this so ? Is such moralizing just ? Were it not strange 
that God has made this life full of things of beauty and made us 
eager to get them — has made us capable of manifold lovely arts 
and high adornments and enrichments of life, and made these 
things the rewards of virtue, of earnest striving and patient well- 
doing, and then has put his curse on them and made them agen- 
cies for our corruption and undoing ? Shall we bid the shepherd 
lad remain in his sheepcote, the blacksmith stick to his forge, the 
poet Uve on in his cottage, lest in the great world they come to grief ? 

No — but we will say, "Be the king if you can, but be the 
shepherd king. Be the United States senator if you can, but keep 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 19 

the virtues of the blacksmith's home in the senatorial Hfe. 
When you feel that the society around you is growing artificial 
and intercourse is insincere and everything sophisticated and un- 
real, go back and get in touch again with the simpler and more 
genuine life out of which you came. As the queen used to go 
to Balmoral and sit by the ingle of her humble cottagers and 
learn useful lessons of life; as Mr. Lincoln loved to have a 
chat with one of the plain men from whom he came; as every 
wise statesman consults with his constituents back in the country 
homes; as the divine, learned in rabbinical and patristic lore, 
gets some of his best divinity and his sermons by talking with 
his sexton or his gardener — so it is good, it is wholesome to the 
mind and sanitary to the soul for everyone to keep connection with 
that life, whatever it may be, which is nearest to nature and reality. 
Again, we will bid our young aspirants cherish the spirit of 
youth and cling to the best things gained in youth. Words- 
worth wished that his days should be joined each to each in 
natural piety. It were good for us all that the best of each 
period of life should pass on to the next. It were good to keep 
as long as possible the ideality of youth. There is, for instance, 
the college idealism. One who has had the great privilege of 
being a member of a college has a tie which binds him to the 
conception of life for which a college stands. And then there are 
one's church relations. Most right-minded young persons in 
these times enter into church relations. They do this in those 
youthful years when conscience is tender and active, when the 
heart readily responds to the appeals of divine love, and the 
will rejoices in acts of holy obedience. It is good to hold fast to 
this early faith. It is not a sign of superiority to lose it, for it 
is usually lost by neglect. In these stirring times when the 
trumpet is ever ringing out the challenge, " Who is on the Lord's 
side ?" it is good to feel that this question is decided, that one 
is committed, and pledged, and can be counted on in the good 
enterprises in which the Christian church is leader. 



20 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

And this brings us to say finally, Let us cultivate a religion 
which puts due emphasis on the ethical and practical side of 
human life. I do not plead for an undue emphasis on this side 
— to the disparagement of the imagination, the emotional, the 
mystic elements in the religious life — those which make men 
devout and unworldly and saintly. But, strange as it may 
sound, these are the easier attainments in religion. It was easier 
for Solomon to make that sublime prayer at the dedication of 
the temple than to live a blameless Hfe. It is easier for any of 
us to be pious than to be honest. But hard as it is to be honest, 
to be true to that in us and above which is deepest and highest 
and best, it is easier with religion than without it. To bring 
heavenly natives down to help us in the discharge of earthly 
duties is one of the hoHest offices of religion. Therefore let 
the man whose integrity is in danger of being overborne by 
conventionalities seek aid in a rehgion which is strongly reaHstic, 
which never gets away from the fear of God, which can sing 
and soar with St. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians and the 
thirteenth chapter of Corinthians but never lets go of the Sermon 
on the Mount and the Epistle of James, which so requires hard 
work during six days, that Sunday will be welcomed as a day 
of real rest, which sympathizes with and blesses men who use 
tools and ply manual arts, which mellows and sanctifies the 
cares and troubles, joys and sorrows of family and kindred, 
friends and neighbors, which calls no human art or relation 
common which it can fill with its blessing and so make holy. 
Thus in great cities, amid civilization however splendid, in 
society however luxurious, ministered to by all the arts, beset 
by all the corruptions of modern life, young men and maidens 
may keep themselves as simple, and pure, and true hearted, 
and strong as in the days of antique virtues, and may add thereto 
the new powers and f aciHties for living which the new civilization, 
essentially a Christian civilization, has put into their hands for 
the adornment and enrichment of their lives. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 21 

Address to the Class 
Members of the Graduating Class: 

I suppose it would be regarded as a bit of baccalaureate 
flattery to assume that college graduates are foreordained to be 
leaders of men. As individuals, of course, they are not all so 
destined — as a class they are. More and more in our time and 
country they are coming to be, and are expected to be, leaders in 
the communities in which they Uve — some leaders of few, some 
of many. When a man emerges into public prominence and 
his biography is given, we expect to be told at what college he 
was graduated. This impHes the acknowledged potency of a 
liberal education in life. But it implies much more than that. 
Graduation in a college of high grade selects men and women 
by their moral more than by their intellectual quaHties. Many 
are called but few are chosen. Many start but few arrive. A 
hundred enter a class and fifty are graduated. Not that all 
who fall out by the way fail because they are unworthy to reach 
the end. That we could not say remembering those who have 
been with you for a time and whom you miss today. But in 
general in our American communities the struggle for survival 
to the end of a college course, the struggle with poverty and 
hardship and the chances of life, is a moral struggle, and success 
means the survival of the quaUties that make up strong, masterful 
character. And the same law holds all through life. Success 
in any high sense is moral superiority — the ascendency of virtue. 
And the virtue which here prevails is the aggregate of the simple 
and elementary virtues which all men may have if they will. 
What I have been trying to do for you today is to glorify in 
your minds these simple virtues, to help you to see that they 
make a plain, humble life bright and strong and even noble, 
and that no other quaUties however brilliant can in any life 
supply the lack of them. You will be quite Hkely to meet men 
who are not college men and who will be your superiors — men 
who will do more for your art or profession, more for invention, 



22 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

or statesmanship, or philanthropy, or religion. It may be 
because they will have more genius than you — but more prob- 
ably because they will have more industry, more resoluteness, a 
higher purpose. 

Revolving very often in my mind during my many years of 
college experience the question of the relative importance of 
the moral and the intellectual factors in the product which we 
call success in life — success of a high order I mean — I have 
come to the deliberate conclusion that they stand in the ratio 
of at least three to one, that saying nothing about heaven above 
and the life hereafter, the worth of a man or a woman here and 
now is one part intellect and three parts affection, conscience, 
and will. Has one a brilliant mind? With adequate moral 
force behind it and within it, it becomes a mighty power; not so 
consorted and energized it avails little. Are you conscious of 
having only moderate intellectual gifts? You can triple their 
momentum by aid from the moral side of your nature if that is 
true and strong. But some of you may say, "I do not aspire 
or care to be a leader of men. I am content to sUp into an easy 
place and go through life without ambition or struggle or 
prominence." It is too late for you to choose that position. 
It is shut against you. In accepting the great trust of a liberal 
education, in consenting to receive from society this loan of 
leisure and seclusion, and the costly appliances of study, you 
have undertaken a great responsibility which you cannot now 
throw off. Noblesse oblige. You are hereby called of God to 
service, to influence, to the labor and dignity of leadership. 
Your college expects this of you. It will be disappointed if you 
do not, in some sphere, do some effective, helpful, honorable 
work. Your Alma Mater will rejoice with the great joy at 
once of self-congratulation and of sympathy when she hears 
of such good work done by you. Go with her blessing and 
prayers and come again to receive her felicitations and to join 
with her in thanksgivings. 



THE COLLEGE AND THE STATE 
WEDNESDAY MORNING 



ADDRESS FOR THE STATE 



GOVERNOR FRED MALTBY WARNER 



You will pardon me, I am sure, if at the outset I ask your 
indulgence for a moment while I bid those of you who come 
from without our borders a most cordial welcome to the Penin- 
sular State and this great institution, and those of you who 
claim Michigan as your home a no less cordial welcome to a 
college whose name and fame is known throughout the civiUzed 
world. 

The exercises of this day and week mark an epoch in the 
history of this important institution of learning and of the 
state which made it possible. It is our fondest hope that the 
close of another half-century may witness an institution and 
a state that have kept pace with advancing thought, methods, 
and ideals, and showered as rich blessings upon humanity 
during those fifty years as have marked the marvelous progress 
of each during the five decades that have just passed into history. 
More than this could not be hoped for. Less than this should 
not for a moment be anticipated. 

The welcome which I bid you today, my friends, is not 
simply an expression of my own pleasure that you have gathered 
here. I but voice the sentiments of every loyal citizen of this 
great state when I bid you a most sincere and cordial welcome. 
Whether you are returning to this institution, your Alma Mater, 
as those who years after their departure from the home of their 
childhood return to seek renewed inspiration within its sacred 
precincts and to live over again the days of long ago, or whether 
you come with greetings as representatives of other institutions 
which have a share in the great work of fitting young men and 
young women to participate inteUigently in the great forward 

25 



26 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

movement which has for its object the uplifting of humanity 
and the betterment of the world, you are equally welcome to 
this place and to the ceremonies of this week. I have faith to 
believe that the experiences of these few days will so enrich you 
in all the essentials of genuine manhood and womanhood that 
you will return to your homes, whether they be far or near, 
better fitted to face the duties and responsibilities of life and 
better equipped to reader valuable service to your fellow- 
citizens, to your country, and to humanity. 

We of Michigan believe that the fathers of our state builded 
even better than they knew when they incorporated in the 
constitution of 1650 the requirement that " the legislature encour- 
age the promotion of intellectual, scientific, and agricultural 
improvements and shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the 
establishment of an agricultural school for instruction in agri- 
culture and the natural sciences connected therewith." 

Following the adoption of this constitution by the people, the 
legislature, in obedience to this requirement, laid the foundation 
for this great institution of learning by enacting a law which 
made provision for a "high seminary of learning in which the 
graduate of the common school can commence, pursue, and 
finish a course of study terminating in thorough theoretic and 
practical instruction in those sciences and arts which bear directly 
upon agriculture and kindred industrial pursuits." 

This broad foundation, established by our farseeing prede- 
cessors, has enabled this College to keep pace with advancing 
thought and take advantage of opportunities as they presented 
themselves for broadening its courses and thus increasing its 
usefulness. 

Having been the first state in the Union to establish and 
equip an educational institution for the direct promotion of 
technical training in agriculture, Michigan was prompt to profit 
by the enactment by Congress in 1890 of the Morrill law which, 
through the increased revenue it provided, enabled it to extend 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 27 

the scope of this institution's usefulness by adding a mechanical 
department. Subsequently, in response to the demands of the 
people of the state, the legislature made provision for the estab- 
lishment of the women's department, now one of the most 
valuable adjuncts of the College. 

You come then today, my friends, to the pioneer agricultural 
college of the United States, an institution which has blazed the 
way and set the pace for all similar enterprises that have since 
been established to aid in the great work of educating the masses 
of our people, elevating the standard of American citizenship, 
and developing our great country. 

Rising amid the stumps which, in that early day, covered 
this beautiful campus and standing out from a background of 
virgin forest which stretched away to the farthermost limits of 
this now fertile farm, the unpretentious buildings which housed 
the sixty students who were enrolled at the opening of the College 
in May, 1857, furnished ample accommodations for all who 
sought instruction here. Meager as was the number of students 
who entered the College when its doors were thrown open fifty 
years ago, it doubtless was as great in proportion to the popula- 
tion of the state as is the greatly increased number of young men 
and young women who now avail themselves of the opportunities 
here presented for securing a practical education which will fit 
them properly to fill the positions in hfe to which they are called. 

The growth of this College has been commensurate with the 
development of the state. Its equipment has been increased and 
its courses of study enlarged and expanded to meet new demands 
and new conditions. Successive legislatures, recognizing the great 
value to the state of the work done here, have been judiciously 
generous in providing for the financial needs of the institution. 

How well it has repaid the fostering care of the state is a 
matter of history and common knowledge. Its hundreds of 
graduates have gone from its portals to take the lead in all indus- 
tries and all movements for the development of the state and 



28 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

its resources. They have ever been the leaders in the advances 
that have been made in agriculture and kindred sciences; they 
have been at the forefront in the onward march of the mechanic 
arts; they have been prominent in the professions; they have 
been foremost in all movements having for their object the 
improvement of society and the betterment of humanity. 

These young men and young women have gone from this 
institution into all the walks of life and everywhere have taken 
advanced positions among their fellows. Their great services 
to the state have more than repaid the people of Michigan the 
investment they have made here — repaid them many times over 
in a material way, while in a greater and grander sense the return 
has been such that cannot be measured by dollars and cents. 
It has taken the form of increased knowledge, increased happi- 
ness, improved conditions of living, better environments, higher 
ideals, and nobler lives. This great reward is like unto that 
treasure which is laid up " where moths and rust do not corrupt 
nor thieves break through and steal." 

While Michigan has naturally and properly been the greatest 
gainer in every way by the work of this grand institution of 
learning, the great good accomplished has spread far beyond 
the borders of our state. It has found its way into every state 
and territory and even into lands beyond the seas. Everywhere 
the graduates of this institution are in demand to carry forward 
the work of development and progress. No better or more 
positive proof of the standing and character of this College could 
be adduced than is found in the fact that from all states and 
countries there comes a call to it for aid and its graduates have, 
from year to year, responded to this call and demonstrated their 
ability to measure up to all demands and meet all requirements. 

And I doubt not that this great institution will go steadily 
and grandly forward, keeping step with the onward march of 
humanity, broadening its work, and increasing its usefulness 
throughout the years that are to come. 



ADDRESS FOR THE GRANGE 



GEORGE B. HORTON 

Master of State Grange 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: 

As we pass along through life we at times meet with inci- 
dents and occasions which in after-years are marked as of such 
special importance that they stand out conspicuously from all 
other events, and often we find ourselves recognizing these 
happenings as fixed times from which the dates and the impor- 
tance of all other happenings are reckoned. 

I believe that this occasion, because of its broad significance, 
will become a prominent milestone in the lives of all who par- 
ticipate in and attend the exercises incident to this, the fiftieth 
anniversary of the Michigan Agricultural College. Fifty years 
is but a short space of time when considered as a part of the 
ages, but in this case it comprises the whole. 

It marks the time of the beginning, and following along it 
leads up to the present. The most profound thought, however, 
in connection with this occasion is that while the life and work 
of the College up to the present make a history rich in achieve- 
ments along the lines of agricultural and human progress and 
development and in this work have measured the full fives of 
many gifted and devoted men, comparatively speaking a com- 
mencement only has been made. While we would not shadow 
the past record of the College and all its valuable and more 
than expected or before thought possible contributions to the 
development of our state and its people, we may nevertheless 
pause and marvel at the great work before it, if the rate of prog- 
ress and development of the recent past decades are to con- 
tinue. For this occasion it is enough to congratulate our state 

29 



30 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

that the fathers who provided for this College, along with others 
in our educational system, possessed that wisdom and foresight 
which led to the laying of a foundation so eminently fitting to 
a state destined to be recognized as a leader in agricultural, 
industrial, and intellectual development. 

It is well for our people to gather and to assist in celebrat- 
ing important anniversaries of the estabUshing of prominent 
state institutions, but it is expected that, without lacking a full 
appreciation of the value of all others, we give distinctiveness 
to each separate event. 

This College exists most conspicuously for the development 
of agriculture and, as a fit companion, to give such mechanical 
and technical training as will permit the head and the hands to 
work together, and to assist each other in being progressively 
useful. The term agriculture in its broad sense may include 
horticulture, floriculture, stock raising, and all things incident 
to soil production. 

It is therefore fitting to consider at this time the importance 
of agriculture and how it leads out and directly afifects all 
other interests and the welfare of the state itself. From such 
line of thinking we may also decide for ourselves the relative 
importance of this College to all other educational institutions 
of our state. 

As the foundation of it all, Michigan is, in the main, an 
agricultural state. Although there exist within its domain rich 
deposits of iron, copper, salt, and coal, and there are within 
its thrifty cities numerous manufacturing and business interests 
employing many people, yet those engaged in interests akin 
to agriculture more than equal all others combined. The 
products of its farms, gardens, and orchards, including live 
stock, make up an annual aggregate value of more than that 
of all other interests. 

Michigan is also a state of ideal American homes. These 
are estabhshed upon a soil so fertile and exist under such climatic 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 31 

conditions as to give a range of production surpassed by no state 
or country. Originally covered with a dense timber growth 
of a wide range of varieties and of prolific size, it is therefore 
the home of trees for commercial profit and to add to the adorn- 
ment of farm and landscape. These same conditions give us a 
wide variety of fruits of such quality as to add fame to our 
commonwealth as a fruit-producing state. 

All the staple cereals are grown here with profit, and all 
of the best varieties of pasture and fodder grasses are native and 
abundant. All these contribute to make possible the ideal 
home state and to give the occupants thereof a broader range of 
opportunity and profitable husbandry than can easily be found 
elsewhere. For a broadly mixed husbandry, or a shifting from 
one specialty to another, Michigan offers opportunities unsur- 
passed. So bounteously favored, it perhaps is but naturally 
resultant that our state is a land of schools and educational 
privileges of a high standard. Our general system has been 
commended by representatives of a foreign nation after extensive 
travel to discover the best system for adoption in their home 
country. Our rural schools are the basis of it all, for histories 
and biographies of successful men and women, in all of the laud- 
able ambitions of life, quite generally trace back to the school- 
house in the country as the place where the foundation part of 
their education was attained, and in many cases it furnished the 
total of their school education. In these schools, so near to 
the homes of the people that the education of the head to think 
and to deduce conclusions can co-operate with the hands in 
doing useful things, the essential foundation for usefulness and 
happiness is laid and the correctness of our plan is proven. 

Then after laying this solid foundation, our state has pre- 
pared itself still further to educate and to equip, even to what 
we may term a finishing point, our sons and daughters for the 
many open avenues to industrial and professional usefulness. 

From the standpoint of preparation for educating the youth 



32 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

of our state, perhaps our normal training schools should be 
of first consideration, for it is here that those who are to teach, 
guide, and mold, receive instruction to aid in securing com- 
missions for this all-important service. It is fast being proven 
that no mistake has been made in providing the larger normals 
in different sections of our state and the county system to make 
it possible for more to prepare for the business of teaching. 
The great demand is for more and better equipped teachers for 
the common schools of the state. 

There comes a time after children and young people have, 
as a general mass, attended school together, when each must 
go his or her way in quest of still further education in prepara- 
tion for some particular line of occupation or profession. For 
all this our state has wisely provided various opportunities 
for technical and professional education, through our School 
of Mining, the Agricultural College, and our great University. 
Besides these we have denominational colleges and business 
training schools. Verily, Michigan stands in the front rank 
for equipment for rearing an intelligent and progressive citizen 
population. 

Albeit, as the crowning glory of it all we must recognize 
and do homage to our intelligent and progressive citizenship. 
To inherit, as our people have, a country so rich in opportuni- 
ties as to draw from ambitious men their best energies, brings 
about a condition of citizenship which for high ideals and 
grand achievements cannot well be surpassed. 

Here let us pause and ask the relation of the Agricultural 
College to all this thrift and well-doing. Although the institu- 
tion was born of wisdom and good intent, it might have failed 
to get a good start or it might have maintained a mere existence 
void of progress or of recognized merit. 

The opposite from this, however, has been and is true. It 
has done an incalculable work in the development of an intelli- 
gent home life upon the farm. From small and humble begin- 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 33 

nings, side by side with the pioneer, this institution started in 
the dense woods. Here through the same processes as were 
followed by the people of the state whom it was organized to 
assist, woods were cleared away, stumps were grubbed out, lands 
were drained, and, step by step, as its usefulness could be proven, 
it has grown until today it exists a monument to the wise councils 
and untiring energies of those who have managed its affairs 
and a great credit to the state. Aye, beyond this, it stands as 
more than a peer of all like institutions in all the states of our 
whole country. In all of its beauty, magnitude, and broad 
influence, is it all that it should be ? We answer, No, and it 
cannot be so long as there exists other of our state educational 
institutions receiving greater support from the state than does 
this College. 

Not that I would make the University less, but I would 
make the Agricultural College more. I would make it more 
nearly representative in point of magnitude, scope of work, and 
equipment, of the interests it represents or stands for. It 
would seem but in line of justice and for the real welfare of the 
state that our higher schools of learning should be placed and 
maintained upon a basis reasonably comparable with the impor- 
tance of the interests each may most directly represent. 

This comparison should go deep enough to consider not 
only their relative social, intellectual, and professional impor- 
tance to the state, but as well the comparative numbers of people 
engaged in the different interests and the comparative importance 
of each to the state's welfare. Then we must consider the 
technical training and the experimental results necessary to 
enable each class to meet successfully the intricate propositions 
which are essential to success, and which are of such a nature 
as to make them impossible of attainment by individual effort. 
The greatest good to the greatest number of people can be laid 
down as a safe and sane poHcy of state, but this must not be 
interpreted to mean that even the welfare of the few is not essen- 



34 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

tial to the ideal aggregate development. Ideal development 
takes into account all of those social, moral, educational, 
business, and professional attainments, which, when blended 
together through the influence of each upon the other, go to 
make up an intelligent, progressive, and strong community, 
state, or nation. The people of a state, constituting the state 
itself, should, in providing the ways and means for its greatest 
good, deal justly by all people and all interests. The time is 
at hand when the demands are imperative for a broader and 
more thorough industrial training. When we take into account 
the fact that the industrial interests, both in point of state welfare 
and of people engaged therein, so far outclass all other interests 
and professions combined, the way would seem to be clear to 
provide for an expansion of this College which is so justly needed 
and demanded. 

Incidentally and by a further reference to our state Univer- 
sity, I will hazard the following and for further consideration 
refer it to the people of the state of Michigan. In the light 
of the developments of recent years and of the trend of affairs 
and of the demands educational and material, I insist that the 
time is here, when we, as citizens who furnish the propelling 
power for it, may well pause and ask how far shall state pride 
carry us beyond the requirements of our state in supporting by 
direct taxation an educational institution chiefly for the profes- 
sions which are for a very small minority of our people, so as to 
vie successfully with like institutions in other states, richly en- 
dowed by gifts from the princely fortunes of philanthropic men ? 
Time will not permit further comment. The question is asked 
in all sincerity and a full discussion thereof by the people of 
our own state will surely lead to a wise and just conclusion. 

Mr. Chairman, I am given a place upon this anniversary 
program, not because of myself, but that I might represent the 
Grange organization of our state on this occasion. For this 
recognition we feel grateful. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 35 

Education is the rock-bedded foundation of the organization 
I have the honor to represent. 

Organization of the farmers of Michigan is but an outgrowth 
of their desires to improve and to progress in such measure as 
the present time demands. Farm famiUes are separated by 
broad acres, and the various helpful agencies, desirable but not 
in natural evidence, must be provided and brought near at 
hand through associated effort. The Grange is broad in con- 
ception, conservative, and yet progressive in its work and 
influence. Through frequent council and exchange of thought 
it leads the farmers of the state to a position of self-respect and a 
better understanding of a citizen's privileges and duties. 

The Grange has always been an ardent friend of the College, 
and in fact of all of the educational institutions of our state. 
Through its efforts and support this College has no doubt been 
assisted to long steps forward in its efforts to provide for the 
agriculturaUsts, the mechanics, the artisans, the home-makers, 
and home-keepers of Michigan, an opportunity for preparation 
to meet the many scientific and intricate problems natural and 
inseparable from the duty they have assumed, to feed, to clothe, 
and to add to the progress of the world. Because of the timely 
and essential work in which the College is engaged, and because 
of its eminently successful administration, I feel safe in prom- 
ising a continued loyal support from the entire mass of agricul- 
turalists of Michigan. 

Hoping for the College many returns of its semi-centennials, 
and that it may always be alert in keeping up with the demands 
of the interests and of the people it was organized to assist, in 
behalf of the Grange Organization I say, Good-will and God- 
speed ! 



ADDRESS FOR THE FARMERS' CLUBS OF MICHIGAN 



LUCIUS WHITNEY WATKINS 
President of the State Association of Farmers' Clubs 



Mr. President, Brother Alumni, and Friends: 

It seems particularly appropriate that the two great agricul- 
tural organizations of this state should have a part today in the 
celebration of the Semi-centennial of her College of Agriculture, 
the sturdy pioneer of its kind in all America. 

Michigan has shown a disposition to be very generous with 
her agricultural interests and with this great school; and the 
Board of Agriculture and Dr. Snyder are most courteous in the 
recognition upon this program of the farmers' important part 
in the industrial and educational progress of our commonwealth. 

In the past, as now, the Michigan Agricultural College has 
added in no small measure to the grand sum of things which 
go to make every resident within our borders both glad and 
proud that he lives here in Michigan, instead of somewhere else, 
and that he lives here now. 

I can assure you that to the present speaker it is a very 
great pleasure indeed to convey, generously and without restraint, 
to this institution, so dear to him as an alumnus, a message of 
continued good-will and hearty congratulation from the great 
democratic organization of farmers' clubs which he has the 
honor to represent. 

It is an exceedingly great pleasure also, and one which 
affects me more than I can tell, to look into the faces of the 
dear old boys of my college days, and before, and to see the 
same faces again, changed only slightly with lines furrowed by 
work and care; but the same boyish faces still, and remaining 
M. A. C. boys, always loyal, until the end. 

36 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 37 

It is interesting to know that so many of these men are 
members of farmers' clubs ; determined to better the conditions 
of home and farm and the community in which they live. Then 
those farmers who become active in a political way and are 
elected to the legislature, organize a farmers' club there; probably 
because of their daily proximity to bell-cows and lemons, mules, 
pumpkins, etc. (outside of the legislature, as they pass along 
the streets of Lansing to and from the capitol). And the 
members of other clubs than these, even those of the great 
cities, have as abundant an agricultural fare upon their tables 
each day as can be found anywhere. So we see that nearly all 
are directly or indirectly connected with the farmers' club. 

It will be seen that our organization has been from the first 
very closely associated with this institution. Six of the thirteen 
ex-presidents of the State Association of Farmers' Clubs are 
graduates of Michigan Agricultural College and of the remaining 
seven, three are the fathers of M. A. C. men. I think the 
professor of animal husbandry will tell you that this is a pretty 
good pedigree. 

And, friends, the strongest fraternity, and not secret either, 
in this College is designed to foster and promote an interest in 
rural life and the business of agriculture, and is attended by the 
agricultural students and faculty. I refer to the splendid local 
chapter of the State Association of Farmers' Clubs. 

It is a great college that can turn out a first-class governor 
from a poor farmer boy in less than a year of its agricultural 
course ! It is an institution that will in every case develop men 
and women, in the fullest sense of the term, out of all those who 
have capacity and desire to learn. 

The work of the farmers' clubs is most informal : a meeting of 
kindred spirits to consider the questions which naturally arise 
from local conditions in the various communities. In them 
the home is discussed, with its most sacred associations, and 
the flowers and lawns and trees; the school with its crowds of 



38 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

little folk; the farm, which is the provider and maintenance of 
luxury and comfort and the playground of the family and their 
friends. And for the protection of the welfare and happiness 
of these homes, which are very little different from the purest 
t)rpe of homes an)rwhere, those problems affecting the rights 
and interests of the people of the state at large are considered 
freely, for just what they are worth and what they stand for in 
the scale of equity and justice; though it must be admitted 
that the farmers labor under the very great disadvantage of 
not having at their ready command a prodigious mass of statis- 
tics and compilations, from which convenient deductions may 
be drawn, and are not favored with the enlightenment of the 
oratorical efforts of hired attorneys, so learned that they can 
argue with equal powers of persuasion and equal display of 
sincerity upon either side their clientage may desire. 

And so we hear from certain sources that the country people 
are immeasurably crude in their logic as compared with others, 
and that they are disposed to advance startUng fads and most 
dangerous ideas of needed and corrective legislation. Well, 
possibly ! These erratic fads are, however, as a rule, important 
enough to call forth the attention and ridicule of a majority of 
the poHticians, for two or more years, then to engage them in 
what appears very like a combination of the games of football 
and leapfrog for about the same length of time, when they are 
glad to indorse them as their very own; too valuable and too 
necessary to pubHc progress to be longer kept from the dear 
constituents, over whose interests they preside. 

My friends, the decision of the common people upon meas- 
ures for pubUc good, arrived at under the sane and natural 
conditions of the home, and far removed from the persuasion 
and tumult of the caucus and convention, are much surer to lead 
him who champions them in the public service toward the 
United States Senate than over the much-trodden pathway 
to the penitentiary. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 39 

The meetings of farmers' clubs partake of the spirit of the 
New England town meetings, and their unselfish verdict rings 
true and clear to the wishes of the common people. Gathered 
together in the farmer's own cosy home, under the auspices of 
the good housewife, who provides a bounteous dinner; with 
friendly greetings of famiUes, one with another, and in the pres- 
ence of flowers and little children, with music and laughter, 
the stern, cruel consideration of business affairs is tempered 
with love and appreciation of truth and honor and godhness. 

We join with all persons and institutions, whether of the 
higher or the industrial education, in an effort to make more 
pleasant and remunerative and more worth living not the 
lives of the few but of the great masses of our people. 

Allow me then, humbly and in the spirit of sincerity which 
prompts the good-will of thirty thousand brother farmers, to 
convey in their behalf my hearty greeting to old M. A. C. today, 
and to bid her Godspeed in her career of endeavor for great 
public good. 



ADDRESS FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF 
MICHIGAN 



IRA HOWARD BUTTERFIELD 

Secretary 



It gives me great pleasure to represent the Michigan State 
Agricultural Society in extending congratulations to the Michigan 
State Agricultural College on this occasion. 

I have heard men express the wish that they might have been 
born years later in order that they might live in times of greater 
progress than has yet been witnessed, but I am satisfied to have 
lived during a time when the state and its institutions were 
building, and am glad that I have known some of the men who 
laid the foundations and those who began the superstructure 
and have thus far builded. 

It has been said that the men who founded the institutions 
of this country builded better than they knew. I would say 
that they did not build, but that they did lay foundations on 
which they expected their successors should build most elegant 
structures. 

Consult, if you please, the plans made by John D. Pierce for 
the public-school system of the state, and say if it has been 
necessary to widen the foundations one whit, that they might 
support one of the best public-school systems in the country. 
Is not the same true of the University and of our system of 
charitable and reform institutions ? 

Read the utterances of the men who were prominent in 
founding this College, the first agricultural college estabUshed 
in the United States, and tell me. Gentlemen of the Board and 
of the Faculty, if they did not lay out work enough not only 

40 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 41 

for the fifty years behind you, but in a great measure for fifty 
years to come. 

And this is no reflection on the men who succeeded them. 
They, too, have done their work well, all of them to this day, 
with an unselfish devotion to the interests of this institution. 

The Michigan State Agricultural Society was organized in 
1849, just eight years previous to the opening of this College. 
At that time Michigan was the twentieth state in population 
and the fifteenth in wealth by the assessors' books. Today 
she is the ninth in population and the fifth in wealth. Detroit 
was in 1850 the twenty-third city; now she is the tenth in popu- 
lation. 

In 1849 agriculture exceeded in value all other industries 
in this state. The vast mineral wealth of the state, its silver, 
iron, coal, salt, and cement had not been developed; its vast 
wealth of timber was not known as a source of revenue but 
rather as a hindrance to agriculture. Hence the interest of 
public men, as well as of farmers, in agriculture. We remember 
the first president of the State Agricultural Society as the gov- 
ernor of the state and the members of its Board of Managers 
were men most prominent in public affairs. 

It has been well for agriculture and for this College that it 
has always had for its friends those whose private interests were 
largely in other professions and pursuits than agriculture. They 
have been better and more courageous friends at times than the 
farmers themselves. 

I recall how, in the earHer years of this College when the 
struggle was on to decide whether the College should be a 
separate institution or become part of the University, John 
C. Holmes, for many years secretary of the State Agricultural 
Society, never a farmer but always interested in agriculture, 
stood in the breach, almost alone, and prevented its absorption 
by the University. 

The Agricultural Society was organized for the same purpose 



42 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

as the College. The object as stated in the first constitution 
was " to promote the improvement of agriculture and its kindred 
arts throughout the State of Michigan." It made it the duty of 
its Board of Managers "to annually regulate and award prem- 
iums on such articles, productions, and improvements as they 
may deem best calculated to promote the agricultural, house- 
hold, and manufacturing interest of the state, having special 
reference to the most economical or profitable mode of compe- 
tition in raising the crop or stock or in the fabrication of the 
article offered." It was directed " to publish a report embracing 
such statements of experiments, cultivation, and improvements, 
proceedings, correspondence, statistics, and other matters, 
the publication of which will exhibit the condition of the agri- 
cultural interests of Michigan, and a diffused knowledge of 
which will in the judgment of the Board add to the productive- 
ness of agricultural and household labor, and therefore promote 
the general prosperity of the state." 

Was not this a grand work for a society of mutual organiza- 
tion to take up, with no possible hope for pecuniary reward, 
and thus to continue for now fifty-eight years? Shall we not 
call these men patriots ? 

While the State Agricultural Society may be called an elder 
brother (or sister) to this CoUege, it is to a great extent its 
parent. 

Hon. E. H. Lothrop, in a public address at the first fair, 
September 26, 1849, sounded the first note for an agricultural 
school. 

Here is his plea for agriculture in the common schools, a 
pleading we have been more than fifty years in answering: 

As four -fifths of the children of our state are intended for, and probably 
will pursue agriculture as a profession, and as a means of livelihood, then 
I say, make our common schools what they should be, and let the branches 
there taught have a direct reference and bearing upon the future business 
of oiu- children. Make our common schools the nursery of farmers. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 43 

Have we not been repeating these words in later years and 
fancied we were proposing something new ? Again Mr. Lothrop 
said: 

While our governments, both national and state, are truly liberal and 
pour out their money like v/ater in the establishment of literary and other 
public institutions, and dot our land over with theological seminaries, 
with law seminaries, v/ith medical seminaries, and with military seminaries, 
poor agriculture, whose hand sov/s the seed, and whose arm gathers the 
harvest on which all our earthly comforts and even our very existence 
depend, as yet has no seminary in which to teach her sons the most valu- 
able of all arts. 

Mr. Lothrop also outlined a Women's Department as 
follows : 

As I have impressed strongly on those gentlemen v/ho have sons, the 
importance of educating them thoroughly in the business in v/hich they 
are destined to follow, let me say a word to you v/ho have daughters: In 
addition to a daily and thorough training in the care and labor of the dairy 
and all household affairs, educate them in everything that v/ill have a 
tendency to make them plain, modest, sensible, and useful v/omen and 
fit companions for those of our sons who shall become scientific and prac- 
tical farmers. Teach them that industry is honorable and adds to their 
charms, and that the domestic circle is to be the theater of their futvire 
fame and glory. 

Forty-seven years later this College established a course for 
women, a course which proposes to give the training that Mr. 
Lothrop named as essential for women. 

The members of the Constitutional Convention of 1850 
evidently had heard something of this movement for agricultural 
education and embodied in that constitution the provision that 
the legislature should as soon as practicable establish a school 
of agriculture. But legislatures do not always adopt new meas- 
ures "as soon as practicable." They often need the prodding 
of the people behind them to urge them along. But the people 
who organized the Agricultural Society had in mind an institu- 
tion which should develop work which the society could only 
begin or barely suggest. 



44 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Hence at the annual meeting of the society held December 
19, 1849, in the village of Jackson, Mr. Bela Hubbard offered 
the following resolution : 

Resolved, that our legislature be requested to pass such legislation as 
shall appear necessary or expedient for the establishment of a central 
agricultural ofl&ce, with which shall be connected a museum of agricul- 
tural products and implements, and an agricultural library, and, as soon 
as practicable, an Agricultural College, and a model farm. 

A memorial to the legislature of 1850 was adopted, from 
which I quote: 

Having established successfully a State Agricultural Society, with its 
annual fairs, it is hoped that, with its central ofl&ce, museum, and library, 
a great step has been accomplished toward perfecting our agricultural 
system. The next most important step in this process is the founding of 
a State Agricultural College and Model Farm. 

The memorial is quite long, and outlined the work that 
might be done, and the need therefor. 

Hon. Jos. R. Williams, who later became first president of 
this College, in an address before the society at its second fair 
at Ann Arbor in 1850, started the call for an experiment station. 
Speaking of the publication of addresses, he said, "One short 
expose of study, of John's experiments, or Molly's industry, 
may prove more instructive than a whole oration. On this 
account it should be our duty to preserve the history and prog- 
ress of each experiment in bringing a product or animal to 
perfection" — a broad suggestion for an experiment station. 

On April 2, 1850, a joint resolution was passed by the legis- 
lature asking our senators and representatives in Congress to 
use all honorable means to procure from the United States a 
donation of three hundred and fifty thousand acres of land to 
this state for the piurpose of estabhshing and maintaining agri- 
cultural schools therein. 

Who can doubt the distinguished senator from Vermont had 
heard of this resolution before he introduced his "land grant 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 45 

bill" ? However, if Michigan made the suggestion, we honor 
Senator Morrill for carrying it to a successful result. 

In 1852 both the Normal School and the University an- 
nounced to the society that each had arranged for a course of 
lectures on agriculture and were ready to carry out the wishes 
of the society relative to an agricultural school, which should 
be a department of these institutions. 

In January, 1853, the society sent a committee of its members 
to visit these institutions and learn their facilities for teaching 
agriculture. They came back and reported hearing some fine 
lectures, but, said the committee, "we do not think the infor- 
mation to be derived from these sources is sufficient to constitute 
the education of a professional and practical farmer," and 
recommended the purchase of a farm "where practical and 
scientific education shall be taught, and that it be not connected 
with any other educational institutions." 

The society kept resolving to the legislature until in 1855, 
by an act approved February 12, the president and executive 
committee of the Michigan State Agricultural Society were 
authorized to select a location and site of not less than five hun- 
dred acres, within ten miles of Lansing, for a state agricultural 
school, and in June of that year they came over and selected 
this spot. 

Do you think the men who gave such earnest work toward 
the establishment of an agricultural school would not stand 
by it in after-years ? They supported the CoUege in its forma- 
tive period, when it needed friends, with the same zeal and 
energy used in promoting its organization, and for years held 
its summer meetings at the College. 

In many cases the same men have served at the same time 
on the Board of Agriculture and on the Executive Committee of 
the Society. 

The Agricultural Society appreciates the friendship and co- 
operation of the College. No shade of jealousy has ever crept 



46 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

in and nothing but a desire for mutual co-operation in helping 
to raise the agriculture of the state to its highest condition exists 
between these two organizations. 

Mr. President of the College and members of the State Board 
of Agriculture, I am authorized and directed on behalf of the 
Michigan State Agricultural Society to extend its best wishes 
for further growth and success. 

May the next half-century be more prosperous for the College 
than the one just passed, and may your efforts be so directed 
and your work so ordered during these coming years that the 
people of the state may justly claim this to be not only the 
oldest but the "best agricultural college in the country." 



ADDRESS FOR THE MICHIGAN ENGINEERING 
SOCIETY 



FRANK HOD OMAN 

President 



What is the Michigan Engineering Society, and what has 
it to do with the Michigan Agricultural CoUege, or the CoUege 
with it, that I, as its representative, should be called on to speak 
for it at this great celebration? 

It is an incorporated society composed of men who have 
graduated from colleges and universities and then spent the 
rest of their Hves studying in that greatest of all finishing schools, 
the school of experience. It is a purely educational society, 
and for the twenty-seven years of its existence has been a power- 
ful educational force, not only in our own state, but all over 
the country, and reaching out into foreign countries. Through 
its influence laws have been made and unmade. Through its 
literature courts have been guided in making their decisions in 
cases which came within its special lines. It began as a society 
of surveyors. For a time its principal discussions were of 
topics connected with land surveying. Now they have broad- 
ened out until they include topics in every field of civil engi- 
neering. Its papers and discussions are pubhshed in an annual 
volume now called the Michigan Engineer. Last year 2,800 
copies were pubhshed and went to engineers from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific coasts, and from Canada to South America. By 
its system of exchanges, each member of the society gets annually 
from twelve to sixteen similar pubHcations from other engineer- 
ing societies. These publications are filled with papers and 
discussions, up to date, and of the best type, by men who are 
known masters of the subjects of which they treat. As I have 

47 



48 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

said, we began as a society of surveyors. Numerous problems 
were discussed of which there were no solutions in the textbooks 
on surveying. Most of them were questions of law and not 
of mathematics or of the use of instruments. The very first 
thing the society did was to appoint a committee whose duty 
was to prepare a Manual which should give authoritative 
answers to all these questions. The committee spent all their 
spare time for six years preparing and getting out the book. 
They studied up every decision of the Supreme Court of the 
United States and every decision of the courts of the several 
states bearing on the location of boundary Hnes. The outcome 
of the labors of the committee was A Manual of Land Surveying, 
which came out in 1886 and is now in its fourteenth edition. 
It is the standard authority in the United States land department 
and all over the United States on the subjects of which it treats. 
Since its first issue a number of textbooks on surveying have 
been written and pubhshed, but there is not one of the whole 
lot which has not taken some portion of its matter from this 
book. More than one supreme court decision in recent years 
has been made in language taken from it, and many another 
court has found in its pages the authorities on which to base a 
decision. About the time the book was pubhshed, the supreme 
court of Michigan gave its decision in the boundary case of 
Wilson vs. Hoffman, in which it was stated that the court 
followed the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States 
in the case of Brown's lessees vs. Clements. The Michigan 
decision was criticized in the society and it was shown that the 
Brown's lessees vs. Clements decision had been reversed years 
ago by the same court which made it, in another suit over the 
very same boundary fine, as not being good law nor in accord- 
ance with the settled practice of the land department in the 
sale of the pubhc lands. When this criticism reached the 
Michigan judges, they promptly, of their own motion, recalled 
the Wilson vs. Hoffman case and reversed their own decision. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 49 

The active members of the committee who prepared that Manual 
of Land Surveying and who from the knowledge gained in its 
preparation were enabled to criticize our supreme court with 
such results were M. A. C. men. 

The production of this Manual practically settled all the 
knotty questions with which the land surveyors had to deal. 
From that time on, the papers and discussions in the society 
took in a wider range of subjects covering nearly the whole 
scope of civil and mechanical engineering practice. Members 
who had been only land surveyors began to develop into en- 
gineers. The annual conventions brought them in contact with 
some of the brightest and best men of the profession from whom 
they learned directly, while from the publications which they 
received from the society they got a mass of up-to-date engineer- 
ing literature which was an education of itself. 

The character of the subjects discussed in the society has 
changed from time to time, but at all times the leading papers 
and discussions have been on live topics in which both the 
profession and the people were interested at the time. At one 
time sanitary engineering had the lead ; at another, road-making 
was at the front; at other times mechanical topics have led; 
but whatever the subjects discussed, the prime object and 
underl3dng motive has not been individual advancement but 
the public welfare ; to learn how to give the public better service, 
better roads, better health, better everything with which the 
surveyor or engineer has to do. What had M. A. C. to do 
with all this ? Professor R. C. Carpenter of M. A. C. was one 
of the two projectors and promoters of the society. Whether 
the conception originated with him or Mr. J. E. Sherman I am 
not certain, but they two brought about the organization of the 
society. After the organization Professor Carpenter was its 
secretary and treasurer for six years and was then elected its 
president. Following him as secretary was another alumnus 
of M. A. C, who up to that time had been a district vice-presi- 



5© MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

dent and who filled the office of secretary-treasurer for twenty 
consecutive years, leaving it to become president. Of the 
sixteen men who have held the office of president, four have 
been M. A. C. men. Of the membership at large there has 
always been a liberal number who came to us from M. A. C. 

The society has a warm feeling of friendship for aU the 
schools which are fitting men to become members of the profes- 
sion. We have a special pride in the two great schools of our 
own state, the University of Michigan and the Michigan Agricul- 
tural College, which are engaged in that work. Those of us 
who laid the foundations of our professional education right 
here are more than proud of our Alma Mater, of what she has 
done and what she is now doing for the education of what we 
deem one of the finest types of manhood — honest, true, and 
able engineers. 



ADDRESS FOR THE NORMAL SCHOOLS 



PRESIDENT LEWIS HENRY JONES 
Ypsilanti State Normal College 



I have the honor to bring greetings from the oldest insti- 
tution for the training of teachers west of the Alleghenies to the 
oldest institution in the West which devotes itself to technical 
training in agriculture and the mechanic arts. Our fervent 
wish is that prosperity attend you in all your ways to the end 
that the commonwealth may continue to receive at your hands 
well-trained citizens, with that happy balance of culture and 
efficiency which you so well represent in your courses of study 
and your teaching practice. We have recently had coined three 
catching phrases descriptive of tendencies more or less evident 
in American life, and more or less represented in our educational 
institutions. The celebrated French preacher, Charles Wagner, 
coined and placed in circulation the phrase, "the simple Ufe," 
thereby eulogizing that happy poise of mind resulting from a 
kind of culture which finds its interests mainly within — or at 
least within the domain of — the spiritual fife. Our honored 
President of these United States has invented and exempHfied 
the phrase, "the strenuous Hfe," laying emphasis at least upon 
the outward struggle in which power delights itself in contending 
with problems which tax its utmost strength. Hon. Frank A. 
Vanderhp, vice-president of the New York City Bank, in an 
address before the National Education Association, at Asbury 
Park, used the phrase, " the efficient life," as expressing a modern 
idea of the union of knowledge and effort by directing these 
in practical ways toward the accomplishing of ends directly 
increasing the comfort and happiness of the people. 

Each of these phrases is in a way a happy putting of a half - 

51 



$2 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

truth about life; but of the three the last is by all odds the 
best. It requires all the poise of the first and the enthusiasm 
of the second, but it harmonizes them so that the former may 
not rust itself away in inglorious ease, nor the latter waste itself 
in tempestuous riot. This is what it seems to me this institution 
typifies and stands for. Your classrooms and laboratories stand 
for intelligence, knowledge, and culture; your broad acres and 
your varied industries stand for practical use of those ideas 
gained in classroom and laboratory. There is no place here 
for intellectual conceptions or abstract philosophies dissociated 
from throbbing and pulsating life. Nor is there any mere 
place here for purposeless wear and tear of nerve and muscle 
in undirected labor — no place for mere strenuosity undirected to 
desirable ends — rather, the happy combination of culture and 
effort which seeks first to find out nature's laws and then to 
adapt them to the accomplishment of beneficent ends under 
direction of quickened brain and cultured mind. 

But as a state institution this College stands as one of the 
great forces which the commonwealth of Michigan maintains 
for the purpose of sustaining its own Hfe and defending itself 
against unproductive people. In the end the agricultural col- 
lege must justify itself on this ground — it must produce efficient 
citizens, who shall be worth to the state all the state pays for 
their education, with enough margin left to make it expedient to 
organize and carry out the elaborate plans everywhere in evi- 
dence about us. 

Undesirable citizenship may assume Protean forms and hide 
itself under many disguises. But broadly considered we may 
cluster the undesirable attributes under two great heads — 
criminality and incompetence. The former includes the posi- 
tively bad, and the latter the good, so long as they are good 
for nothing. There is a widespread conception among a large 
class of people that the ordinary forms of pubhc education are 
too abstract and formal in their character, and that in their 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 53 

present forms they do not tend toward morality and efficiency. 
It is true that in many instances pubHc education is entirely 
too formal, being devoted more to books than to things, to 
general than to special matters, and to abstract truth rather than 
to practical affairs. Nevertheless, even in its present form, the 
whole tendency of public education is distinctly moral and tends 
directly toward competency, I may be allowed to illustrate 
two cases briefly. Some time during the 90's my attention was 
called to a report made by the superintendent of the Detroit 
House of Correction in which the statement was made that 75 
per cent, of the inmates of that institution could read and write. 
One of the Detroit papers commented editorially upon this 
fact, implying that because 75 per cent, of the criminals confined 
in the Detroit House of Correction were educated in the limited 
sense of being able to read and write, and only 25 per cent, of 
the criminals confined there were totally ilUterate, therefore 
public education, such as these people had, increased their 
tendency toward criminaUty in the ratio of 75 to 25. I had 
occasion to answer this accusation before a meeting of the 
National Education Association. I called attention to the 
fallacy in the editorial by showing that, according to the report 
of the state superintendent of public instruction for that same 
year, 96 per cent, of the population of Michigan could read and 
write — that is, were educated to that extent, some of them 
doubtless beyond that point; and that 4 per cent, only of the 
population of Michigan was at that time totally illiterate. It 
resulted, therefore, in the fact that the 25 per cent, of the 
persons confined in the Detroit House of Correction, represent- 
ing as it did the entire state, came from this 4 per cent, of the 
population; while the 75 per cent, of the criminals came from 
that large proportion of the population who could read and 
write, namely, the 96 per cent. Reducing to a common denom- 
inator, therefore, it was discovered that the 4 per cent, of the 
population of Michigan which was at that time totally ilUterate 



54 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

produced seven and one-half times its proper ratio of criminals. 
This has been shown to be substantially the fact time and 
again in the study of statistics over wide areas — that even that 
small degree of education which is indicated by the power 
to read and write has its distinctly moral effect upon those who 
receive it. 

The same point which I wish to illustrate with respect to 
efficiency was discovered in 1837 by Horace Mann, then secre- 
tary of the State Board of Education of Massachusetts. He 
examined the pay-rolls of the factory workers in the manufac- 
turing districts of Massachusetts, especially the mills at Lowell 
and Lawrence. He discovered, by making the test suggested 
by the ability on the part of the worker to write the name to the 
pay-roll instead of being compelled by total iUiteracy to make a 
mark, that those who were able through slight education to 
write their names received one-third more pay than did that 
contingent of those persons who were obHged to place their 
mark upon the pay-roll instead of writing their names. In the 
ability to write one's name there was evidence of a one-third 
increase in competency. 

But here stands an institution that is dedicated to the making 
of education distinctly moral and efficient, in that it tends to 
develop that capabihty which comes from the power to do things 
well. This is distinctively a moral force, since it develops self- 
respect in the individual and brings out the spirit of noblesse 
oblige upon his part. But beyond this, the tendency of this 
institution is to make people distinctly intelUgent and capable 
of doing certain work efficiently because of the investigations 
which they have made in classrooms, laboratories, and fields 
belonging to this institution. Many times over does this insti- 
tution return to the state the amount expended for it in the 
increased morality and efficiency of the citizenship of this 
commonwealth, and because of this it deserves the constant sup- 
port and good-will of the people of this state. 



ADDRESS FOR THE DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES 



PRESIDENT AUGUST F. BRUSKE 
Alma College 



Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen: 

I am here as the representative of a church school to offer 
heartiest felicitations to a state school. I am glad of the privilege 
of rendering this service, both because of our agreements and 
because of our differences. We are agreed in that we are seek- 
ing the highest culture of the young people placed under our 
care. This is the rock foundation of every school in the world. 
This is the sacred unity of all education. In the name of this 
unity of culture I greet you today. 

But we are equally happy in our differences. The peculiar 
purpose of your culture is indicated in the name you bear. 
You are an "agricultural college." Your outlook is upon the 
farm. The fragrance of the grain fields is yours; the sweet- 
ness of the clover fields is yours; and the "cattle upon a 
thousand hills" are yours. This does not mean that all of 
your graduates will become farmers; but that all the graduates 
choosing that vocation will be intelligent and scientific farmers. 
Not every law student becomes an attorney; not every medical 
student becomes a physician; and not every student of Alma 
College becomes a preacher. Our constant endeavor is so to 
train him that whether he becomes a preacher, teacher, or mer- 
chant, he shall be a cultivated Christian gentleman, true to 
the church, true to that "kingdom which is an everlasting 
kingdom and that dominion that endureth through all genera- 
tions." Your outlook is upon the farm, our outlook is upon 
the church. Therefore there can be no strife between us. Our 
congratulations this day are as sincere as they are hearty. We 

55 



56 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

rejoice with you in what you have achieved, in what you are 
achieving, and in what you are destined to achieve. 

This vast multitude gathered here, these beautiful grounds 
and buildings, these many hundreds of students, these distin- 
guished alumni from every part of our country, all bear abundant 
witness to the splendid work of fifty years. Of this much will 
be said in these jubilee days. Let me rather therefore say a 
word concerning the present and the future of your noble work. 

Certain orators are fond of telling us that we are living in 
the days of agricultural renaissance. Not so. It is not a 
rebirth that we are witnessing, but rather a new birth. We 
are Uving in the six days of the Creation of Scientific Agriculture. 
Science for the first time is moving onto the farm. That hopeless 
picture of "The Man with a Hoe" may be true of the past. It 
is not true of the Ufe of today, thanks to the agricultural colleges 
of the world. They have changed the hopeless, brainless " man 
with a hoe" into a Robert Clark Kedzie, father of the beet- 
sugar industry of Michigan — into a Luther Burbank, creator 
of a new world of flowers and plants and trees. 

They tell us. Sir, that the trend toward life in the city cannot 
be arrested; that in 1800 less than 4 per cent, of our population 
dwelt in cities, and that in 1900, 33 per cent, were to be found 
there. They tell us that the appHcation of machinery to agri- 
culture has driven multitudes from the farm. In 1870 there 
was one man engaged in farming to every seventeen acres of 
cultivated land, in 1890 there was one to every twenty-six acres. 
This machinery has driven four and one-half milHons of farmers 
together with their famiUes from the soil to the city. And this 
is bound to continue. If so it only means that the farmer 
of the future will be a brain worker rather than a hand worker. 
It means that the agricultural college will be a greater necessity 
to the future than it has been to the past. That future, radiant 
with the promise of abundant usefulness, beckons to you. In 
the possibilities of that future let all men rejoice ! 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND THE STATE 

[Summary] 



LUTHER L. WRIGHT 
Superintendent of Public Instruction 



I admire and reverence this beneficent institution because 
it has always been democratic, has always kept close to the 
people, and has never forgotten its purpose. I congratulate the 
state on having at its head a man who has the ability to make 
it what it is. 

The public school is the creator and preserver of democracy. 
In it every individual takes his rightful place. It levels among 
children all distinctions of wealth. It humbles pride of birth. 
Native, rugged strength is the leader in that democracy. There 
is no fear for democracy from the hordes and swarms of foreign- 
ers who have come and are daily coming into this country Uke 
a cloud of locusts. The pubHc school will make Americans of 
their children in language, ideals, thought, and customs. This 
Americanizing process cannot be stayed or thwarted so long as 
the public school can have these children. 

The common school is a hopper into which are poured all 
kinds of grain, German, Irish, PoHsh, Scandinavian, Itahan, 
and Hungarian, but it all comes out flour whose grade is essen- 
tially American. The elephant feeds on the trees of his native 
jungle, but what he absorbs becomes elephant and not tree. 
So whatever America absorbs from Europe, if it can but go 
through the American public school, becomes American and 
not European. 

Industrial education is the problem for this state, and you 
who make public sentiment will solve it. Speed the day when 
manual training, domestic science, and agriculture shall be 

57 



58 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

taught in every school in Michigan. I hope to hve long enough 
to see public trade schools estabUshed in the centers where the 
state shall aid, not only in the education of the culture side, but 
in that practical education that will train boys and girls to earn 
a living and to do work with their hands. 

Training in agriculture, in the scientific knowledge of the 
art of farming, will add more to the wealth of the state than 
will all its copper and iron mines. Manual training and the 
trade school will add infinitely to the skill of craftsmen and the 
products of our factories. Domestic science will give us better 
homes, better health, more comfort, and lasting happiness. 

This practical industrial training will ampHfy and round 
out the purely mind-studies and will make for the complete man. 
This, to my mind, should be the great purpose of the states. 



THE BUILDERS OF THE COLLEGE 
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 



THE COLLEGE AND THE STUDENTS, 1857-1860 



CHARLES JAY MONROE 



The College, when I first saw it May 10, 1857, consisted of 
a tract of mainly timber land, without an acre fully cleared. 
A few acres had been slashed down and the logs and brush 
cleared. On every hand were old stubs and partially burned 
trees. The fire had scorched the timber next to the clearing, 
so that at every point of the compass to which you turned, you 
beheld dead and blackened trees which presented a most deso- 
late scene. There are a few pictures in the library which give 
a faint idea of it. 

College Hall, a dormitory, and a small brick barn constituted 
the buildings. The old dormitory, known for many years as 
"Saints' Rest," stood a Httle east of the present site of WiUiams 
Hall, and was burned in 1876. These buildings were sur- 
rounded by logs and stumps, the carpenters' and masons' 
leavings, and other rubbish. The roads to the buildings were 
lined with stumps which had been dug or pulled out and in 
some cases partially burned. 

The road from the College to lower Lansing was fairly good, 
judged by the road standard of those days. Lansing consisted 
of three parts. Upper, Middle, and Lower, and the distances 
and partition woods between them were sufficient to make them 
distinct towns. 

The travel to the College was mainly from Middle Lansing, 
via Michigan Avenue. This street was usually a mud hole from 
the hotels to the College, particularly in the spring and fall, 
and was lined with timber except now and then a small opening 
made by new settlers. In this connection I wish to call attention 
to the large stone beside the road with a fair-sized tree seemingly 

61 



62 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

growing through it. As I remember it, the crack was then 
small and only partly across the stone, and the tree was about 
the size of a finger. It was the frequent resting-place on the 
trips to and from Lansing. I suspect that the growth of the 
tree is largely due to the mud scraped from the shoes of the way- 
farers, which furnished soil and water and created a sort of 
common ownership in the many contributors. I doubt if any 
boy in subsequent years passes the stone and tree without think- 
ing of college days. 

Lansing had no railroads. The nearest were the Detroit 
and Milwaukee at St. Johns, and the Michigan Central at 
Jackson. Most of the boys came by these routes. From Jack- 
son to Eaton Rapids there was a plank road, but it had so many 
broken or missing planks that for a good deal of the way the 
square edges of the plank made it worse than the round logs 
of a corduroy. From Eaton Rapids to Lansing it was mainly 
mud holes. We regarded ourselves as fortunate if we got our 
trunks through, even by carrying a pole or rail for considerable 
distances to pry the old stage out of mud holes. 

Personally, I did not know as to the road from St. Johns. 
I only recall that when there was a comparison between those 
from the north and from the south, one would conclude that 
both were among the worst in the state. It is fair to state that 
the vacations in those days were in the spring and fall, and so 
at the seasons of the year when the roads were at their worst. 

The dedication exercises were held May 13, 1857, in the 
college room usually known as the chapel. This room has 
been the general meeting-place for all sorts of gatherings for 
fifty years. At the dedication it was crowded to its limit, and 
many stood about the doors, both inside and out. With two 
others I stood in the south center window, the platform being 
on the north, or opposite, side. 

The next day those wishing to enter the College met in this 
same room as requested by the president. They were required, 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 63 

as I remember, to register their names, ages, residence, and 
occupation, and state the occupation they expected to follow 
after leaving college. Then the rooms were designated where 
they could go for examination. Fortunately for many of us, 
the questions were easy. The next day we again assembled, 
and all who had passed were assigned rooms. There were 
four students to each room, to do their own chamber work. 
Within a day or two we were again called to the chapel by the 
president. He stated that for the present he wished to assign 
the work as far as possible to those famiHar with the work desig- 
nated. A show of hands was asked, for those accustomed to 
driving horses. Probably four-fifths responded. After a few 
questions, the teamsters were chosen. Next, those famiHar with 
oxen, a less number, responded. I was named to drive one 
yoke. The call was continued until nearly all the different 
sorts of work were mentioned and someone of those lifting the 
hand would be designated. 

The first work, in which nearly all took part, was cleaning 
up the carpenters', painters', masons', and plumbers' rubbish, 
and clearing away the logs and brush near the buildings. As 
I remember it there was not an acre fully cleared on the farm — 
that is, with stumps out as well as logs and brush removed. 
Later there were many changes made in the assignments. As for 
myself, I continued to drive the oxen through the summer of 
1857, mainly on the stump machine. In the summer of 1858 
I drove the same team as a logging team, and they were extra. 

Visitors coming to the logging field who were familiar with 
that sort of work were sure to notice and admire the team. 
Those remembering back to the days when clearing and logging 
were a prominent part of the work in Michigan will realize that 
a good logging team was highly valued, and their abiHty to make 
a log snap was often praised. 

I recall an incident which occurred at a near neighbor's. 
A Mr. Seaver had an extra yoke of oxen of which he was very 



64 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

proud. As I was passing the field with several friends where 
he was logging, one of the party expressed the wish to drive 
out and see the men roll up a log heap. I introduced my friends 
and stated they would hke to see a heap made ; I also remarked 
that I was sure they would hke to see his oxen draw the logs. 
He hitched to a long one and waved to everybody to keep away 
from the switch end, then sprang toward the oxen with raised 
whip, caUing out, " Haw, Buck." This brought the oxen toward 
him and he, dancing back to keep out of their way, stammered 
out, "I beg your pardon, I beg your pardon, Buck, I meant. Gee." 

In the winter of 1857 and 1858 chopping was the principal 
work. Over a hundred acres on the south side of the river was 
slashed into windrows and burned the following summer. We 
worked in three divisions, two and one-half hours each — first, 
7 to 9:30; second, 9:30 to 12; third, 1:30 to 4. The second 
was expected to be out in time to take the tools of the first, the 
rule being that the same boys should follow each other in the 
use of the same ax. 

An incident occurred the latter part of the winter which 
furnished considerable amusement and was made the subject 
of a very entertaining essay read before the Lyceum. As 
division No. 2 was leaving the dressing-room (where clothes 
were changed or overalls put on over the ordinary suit) word 
was received that a bee tree had been found and that the boys 
of No. I division were having a treat of honey. The boys of 
No. 2 abandoned the usual custom of marching in Indian style 
of single file and struck a double quick for the scene of feasting. 
The bridge was a large fallen tree reaching from bank to bank. 
Ordinarily it was adequate, but on this occasion when the 
whole squad were having a neck-and-neck race and all were 
wanting to cross at the same^time, it resulted in several taking a 
forced bath before the coveted feast. Arriving at the scene, a 
pitched battle occurred which discounted a college rush. 
Besides, the bright sun warmed up the bees, and they with 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 65 

natural patriotism sought in a very stinging manner to defend 
their home and honey. They inflicted a good many wounds 
which soon became prominent and remained so for several 
days. Like all great battles the sad scenes came afterward. 
While none were killed and only a few wounded as above stated, 
the after effects of the hearty feast of honey mixed with rotten 
wood proved very disastrous in its relaxing effects, and sent 
most of the participants to the hospital. Few wanted any dinner 
and a less number went to the afternoon classes. 

The principal work of 1858 was clearing the land, especially 
that cut over the previous winter. Some corn, oats, potatoes, 
and garden truck were raised and the old apple orchard was set 
out. The most notable and impressive event of the season was 
the fever and ague. The plowing and stirring of a hundred 
acres or more of new land with all its decaying vegetation turned 
loose an immense amount of miasma. The remark often made, 
"that it was thick enough to cut with a case knife," had much 
truth in it. In the latter part of August and fore part of Sep- 
tember there were 70 out of 100 students unable to attend classes, 
at least they could come only every other day, as the fever was 
mainly intermittent. That is, one day the patient felt as well 
as ever, and the next, never felt worse. The main consolation 
the sufferer got was the frequent assurance that it was only the 
ague and nobody ever died from it. Classes were greatly inter- 
rupted and in some cases suspended for a short time. Many 
of the students became very impatient at the interruption of 
classes; some not famihar with fever and ague declared that it 
was unnecessary, that the boys were just as well as ever part of 
the time and might get their lessons and not be holding others 
back. I had a roommate who was of this way of thinking and 
unwittingly expressed it too freely. As my boyhood home was 
on the windward side of a mill pond I knew personally of its 
debilitating effects and still more of it from frequent observa- 
tions of others, and reminded him it was a more weakening and 



66 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

serious disease than he could appreciate without actual expe- 
rience. A little later it got hold of him. He was a sturdy, 
pushing New Englander and fought it off bravely, keeping up 
his work and study. One morning about lo o'clock I came in 
from work and found him behind the stove doing his best to 
keep his knees from shaking, his chair from ratthng, and his 
teeth from chattering. He put up his hand imploringly and 
said, "Don't say a word; if I ever get over this I'll never say 
another thing about anybody, as this is the meanest disease I 
ever saw." 

The principal work of the winter of 1858-1859 was chopping, 
only instead of slashing it down we cut a large amount into 
four-foot wood, which was drawn to a long shed just east of the 
old boarding-hall. This furnished us rainy-day work or enter- 
tainment, fiddhng it up with a bucksaw. 

About a dozen of us remained through the spring vacation 
doing chores, cutting wood, etc., and four of us were able to 
recall in the Lincoln campaign that we had been rail splitters. 
A pleasant event of this vacation was our invitation to and 
attendance at the marriage of our Professor Tracy to Miss 
Sessions, professor of mathematics of the Michigan Female 
Seminary, of which I shall speak later. 

The summer of 1859 the College can fairly reckon as its 
first year in which the production of farm crops and garden 
truck was the principal work of the students. All of the ordinary 
farm crops were raised and the quaUty and quantity compared 
favorably with those of the best farms in this vicinity. The 
garden in variety, quality, and quantity was by far the best 
up to this date and added greatly to the pleasure, comfort, and 
economy of hving at the College. 

The late Professor Prentiss of Cornell, who was a classmate, 
had the superintendence of the garden and directed the work in 
the afternoon, and it was my pleasure to assist him by having 
charge in the forenoon. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 67 

As the work of the four previous terms had been mainly such 
as I had been accustomed to in the childhood home — it being 
heavy timber and the clearings commenced about the time I 
was born — I got little that was new or helpful, except as the 
continued doing of any task makes one more expert in it. But 
the work, experience, and observation which I had in the two 
summer terms of 1859, which included the gathering, labehng, 
and arranging of seeds, I have felt were of great advantage to 
me, for which I have always been grateful. 

I have previously mentioned the "Fern Sem," a short name 
for the Michigan Female Seminary, at Lansing in charge of the 
Rogers Sisters. There was some visiting of the girls at their 
college during the summer of 1858, possibly started and en- 
couraged by the fact that Professor Tracy, in whose charge the 
overseeing of the boys principally was, was in the habit of 
visiting one of its teachers, to whom he was subsequently married, 
as stated above. The mutual interest and visiting between the 
two colleges were greatly increased in October, 1858, when the 
M. A. C. boys were invited to a husking bee at the " Fern Sem." 
A field of several acres of corn, as I remember, stood just east 
of the buildings, now used for the School for the BHnd. The 
night was lighted by one of those brilliant harvest moons and 
also by the smiling faces of the "Fem Sem" students who acted 
as partners in the husking. The number of red ears found was 
quite remarkable, in fact so many and so well scattered over the 
field were they, that they occasioned a good deal of querying, 
some declaring that the planter must have had foreknowledge 
as to the future buskers. When the corn was all husked and 
picked up, and the stalks bound and set up, we were treated 
to a bountiful lunch and then to a jolly social time, not soon to 
be forgotten. We were allowed to hnger into the small hours, 
probably on account of the good work done. 

In passing, I cannot help remarking that this was more than 
a pleasant event to the boys and girls for an evening; it was an 



68 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

important event for the colleges and especially to M. A. C, 
situated as it was three and a half miles from Lansing in a 
sparsely settled neighborhood. There were no seniors, juniors, 
or sophomores to introduce the new comers. For a year and 
a half about one hundred boys were deprived, except at the 
short vacations, of the companionship of mother, sister, or 
friends. The visits of the boys to the "Fem Sem" and of the 
girls to the College were of great benefit. I feel sure that memory 
serves me right in recalling the improvement in personal appear- 
ance, the greater attention to dress and address, the more 
frequent care of rooms and of the college premises, and an 
elevation of the moral tone. It was the assuming of a normal 
condition in the mingling of the boys and girls, with mutual 
advantage to both. 

There was always plenty to do for busy heads and hands 
in study, reading, farm work, the care of rooms, and the mending 
and care of our clothes. Our sports were mainly of the country 
sort, "one-" and "two-old-cat" ball games, running, hop-step- 
and-jump, "pom-pom pull-away," tag, and leapfrog. Some 
of them were not very dignified; still there were no smashed 
noses, cracked heads, maimed limbs, nor any killing. 

The principal event of general interest, and of special interest 
to those taking part, was a pubhc exhibition at the close of the 
term, November i6, 1859. Nine students took part, besides 
a quartet which sang. The exercises were similar to those of 
the better class of district schools, and consisted of original 
orations and essays, interspersed with music. The old chapel 
was crowded to its fullest capacity, the larger portion of the 
audience coming out from Lansing. 

The CoUege was a typical Michigan pioneer in starting in 
the woods, in opening up roads, in logging and burning green 
timber, much of it in the wet season of the year, in the pulling 
of green stumps, and in ditching where an ax was as important 
as the spade or shovel. It was hard work for the boys and 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 69 

expensive for the College. I recall one large oak stump with 
a large tap root and a mass of others needed to sustain the tall 
sturdy tree, cut from it. It was only a few feet from the front 
door of the boarding-hall. Digging away the dirt and cutting 
off the roots required about ten days' work. Then it took the 
stump machine to roll it out and two yoke of oxen and four 
span of horses a half-day to draw it to the river bank near the 
president's house, costing about $20. 

I have also a distinct recollection of some of the ditches. 
One between College and Abbot was in places one and two feet 
deeper than the height of the boys. The dripping from the dirt 
thrown out and the spatter of the water from the chopping of 
the roots made the boys look as though they had taken a mud 
bath. 

The administration was frequently criticized for this exten- 
sive work, but the legislature which fixed the Hmit of the location 
of the College and those who selected the site should share the 
responsibiUty. 

I have imperfectly and hurriedly mentioned a few of the 
happenings of the six college terms ending November, 1859, and 
can now simply add that about two hundred acres had been 
cleared, four residences, a barn, and a small toolhouse had been 
erected, the lots well fenced and in condition to produce good 
crops, and a creditable garden and a greenhouse were well 
started. Better than all this, I believe the boys generally had 
reached that point where they appreciated that the work helped 
pay their way, gain health and vigor, and assist rather than 
hinder their studies. 

I mentioned the dearth of female society during most of the 
terms until partially supplied by the girls of the "Fem Sem." 
I would not have it understood nor leave it to be inferred that 
the wives of the ofi&cers were not thoughtful and ready with 
kindly assistance; but they lived in Lansing until the latter 
part of the period covered and so could do little. I am sure 



70 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

those at the College, when the steward and all his help left and 
the boys for a considerable time did the housework, recall how 
Mrs. Williams came daily to the College and gave generously 
of her time to assist us. Nor did we forget the many acts of 
kindness rendered by Mrs. Shearer who naturally left with her 
husband. For her motherly care and numerous helpful services 
in previous terms she will ever be held in grateful remembrance. 



MEMBERS OF THE EARLY FACULTY 



ALBERT JOHN COOK, 1862 



Brothers and Sisters, Alumni and Alumnae, and Friends All: 

I come with you to bring my tribute of respect, admiration, 
and love for our cherished Mother, imder pecuHar difi&culties. 
When the summons came to leave duty and join in the glad 
festivities, I thought it would be quite impossible. But when 
the invitation came to speak for the men who planted this 
institution, men who seemed inspired in thought and purpose, 
so well did they build; men who worked with a Titan's energy; 
how could I say ''No," though obstacles, high as Olympus, 
pushed themselves between me and this beloved place ? Besides, 
no other one living knew all the men who wrought so admirably 
to lay the foundations of this splendid institution, who though 
they must grope in unknown fields, yet varied not from the 
course to the stars. 

The late James A. Garfield spoke wisely in his memorable 
eulogy of President Mark Hopkins. Yet forsooth, unless the 
log were very short, there were better no log at all. Not even 
a log held the early professors of this College away from those 
first fortunate students. Indeed, it was the glory of the old 
Michigan Agricultural College that teacher and student were in 
closest touch. We old boys were ever welcome to closest inti- 
macy with WiUiams, Abbot, Tracy, Thurber, and Miles, and 
we shall never fully appreciate the value of the inspiration that 
came to us from such helpful and wholesome association. A 
college is just what its teaching force — its faculty — gives out 
of energy, scholarship, and character. Were there ever teachers 
of more sterHng stuff, more keenly alive to duty, than was that 
fine galaxy of men who so eagerly opened to us the pages of 

71 



72 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

science, art, and literature ? Scholarship is what most gilds a 
college. No college ranks high, unless scholarship is its watch- 
word, ever kept at the forefront. What an example of scholar- 
ship we had in the pedagogical founders of this institution! 
No wonder that with such examples of scholarship as that of 
WiUiams and Abbot and their colleagues, the students were 
stimulated to keenest mental effort ! 

But the greatest glory of any college are such examples 
of noble hving that the students will most Hve, and so "will think 
most, feel the noblest, and act the best." Who that were here 
in those early days, and were touched by the impress of Dr, 
Abbot's sweet, true, loving spirit, can ever think of that life 
and influence, without being ennobled, even though so many 
years separate us from those glad hours? This College was 
well planned from its very inception ; but what would planning 
avail, had we not had devotion to scholarship, purity of life, 
and keenness of conscience ? 

We have all reaHzed how discouragingly short those golden 
years of study were ! Have you not marveled that so many of 
our men took positions side by side with men whose opportuni- 
ties had been of much broader range, and yet that our men were 
often in the lead ? Two things the great college must needs 
do: it must teach its students how to grasp truth — to acquire 
knowledge rapidly ; it must also inspire in its students a genuine 
love for study, which shall be an unquenchable passion. When 
it has done this, it may send its students forth, and they are 
potentially equipped. I beheve this College has been pecuHarly 
happy, through its scholarly men, in achieving these results. 

Nor were our professors without able support. Bright, 
eager, responsive students did much to give impetus to mental 
"dig" in those days, when educational history was in process of 
making. Such men as Prentiss and Dickey and Clute and 
Preston and hosts more Uke them were as stimulating to our 
strenuous teachers as were the teachers inspiring to the pupils. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 73 

Yes indeed, our professors had splendid timber to fashion, and 
less wonder is it that their strokes were heavy and true. 

PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. WILLIAMS 

This CoUege was peculiarly happy in its first president. He 
was a man of fine physique, pleasing presence, keen, active 
intellect, and possessed of a ready humor, that made him the 
ever-welcome companion of the student. He was also a man 
of broad, tolerant views, and were he alive today, he would 
keenly appreciate the proposition of a "square deal." The 
pecuHar ideas which dominated in the early history of the 
College, whose wisdom was affirmed by results, originated 
largely with President Williams. When we remember that 
this was the pioneer agricultural coUege and that he was emphati- 
cally a pioneer, blazing a path in an entirely unexplored realm, 
it is a marvel that he fashioned so wisely and well. Moreover, 
he had no experts, as we have now, to whom he might turn for 
aid, in guiding this new enterprise to a successful issue. His 
masterful mind was well illustrated in his selection of the men 
to assist him in the new experiment. Mrs. Williams was a 
real colaborer, and the home of the first president was a bright 
spot for many a student who enjoyed its ever-open hospitality, 
in those days when agricultural college was parsed in the singular 
number. 

PROFESSOR CALVIN TRACY 

Among the first of the professors whose pleasure it was to 
throw Hght into dark places, was our tall, eager, enthusiastic 
professor of mathematics. Professor Calvin Tracy. He had 
written books that had won high praise. His health was poor, 
as indigestion was his constant companion. He told me more 
than once that he did not know what it was to feel well, and yet 
how ready and cheerful he was to help us over hard places! 
He was not only a close student but he was so transparently 



74 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

true that his character rooted in the hearts and lives of his 
young companions, so that as they went forth, they had a firm 
grip on the best things of Ufe. Such genuinely Christian char- 
acter as guided the life of Professor Tracy never fails or ceases 
to influence every life that it touches, to higher thought and 
endeavor. It was jocosely remarked that "Professor Tracy 
loved the truly good boys and the 'digs;'" with his frail health 
and love for good scholarship, one can easily imagine him 
possessed of such prejudice. Can anyone who participated in 
those memorable geometry contests ever forget the ecstatic 
pride of our teacher, as the rapid, accurate work was reeled 
off as by a whirlwind ? No one can know of Professor Tracy's 
life and thorough, earnest work, and not ascribe to him a large 
place in giving to the College its trend and temper. 

PROFESSOR LOUIS R. FISK 

Professor L. R. Fisk was one of that first faculty. He was 
a tall man with pleasing manner, and was ever gracious to all 
who came to him for consultation and advice. After the resig- 
nation of President Williams, Professor Fisk was acting presi- 
dent, until President Abbot was called to the presidency of the 
CoUege. Professor Fisk was not so scholarly nor so thorough 
and accurate a teacher as were some of his colleagues, yet he 
was devoted to the interests of the College, and did much in 
those early first days to aid in placing the College on a perma- 
nent foundation and to create a loyal student body. 

PRESIDENT THEOPHILUS C. ABBOT 

Dr. T. C. Abbot was not at the College at its opening, in 1857, 
but he came soon and remained, honored and loved by aU, until 
he was called to a higher realm of glory and usefulness. No 
one ever connected with this College did more to inspire sound 
scholarship, to exalt manhood, to develop in the students the 
very best of endeavor and accomplishment, than our revered 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 75 

Professor Abbot. "His life was gentle, and the elements were 
so mixed in him, that nature might stand forth and say to all 
the world. This was a man!" Why did President Abbot have 
the entire confidence and reverence of the student body to a 
greater degree than I have known in any other, in all my college 
experience ? He was a great student, and never appeared 
before his classes except when he was master of the subject he 
was to present. His deep, strong, but quiet enthusiasm, tem- 
pered by modesty and simplicity, inspired his students, and I 
often heard them say: "I would rather flunk in all my other 
classes than in President Abbot's." There was no shadow of 
pretense in his mental make-up, and he was a bold student who 
would ever venture to palm off anything that was not genuine in 
President Abbot's lecture-room. How fondly he touched his 
precious books! To see his reverent handling of books made 
us all love books the more. How free his great library was to 
all of us! How doubly careful were we that no spot or stain 
should mar those sacred volumes while in our care and keeping ! 
Busy as was his life, whoever remembers the time when he would 
not eagerly take an hour if he could lift any of us over our troubles 
and difficulties? His quick, unselfish love for us all left no 
room for question, and the dullest, most heedless student among 
us knew that Dr. Abbot was his certain friend. Thus he 
proved to us "what is the greatest thing in the world." 

How Tennyson, and Milton, and greatest of all, Shakespeare, 
took on new life as he opened their treasures to our dazed appre- 
ciation. Lycidas became a gem which we have always treasured, 
since he revealed its rare polish. Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, 
and the Merchant of Venice were all transformed as he brought 
out the rare beauties and the deeper philosophies of those great 
dramas. Rhetoric and logic and English Hterature took hard 
study; yet as he flooded these themes with light, they became 
fascinating to us, and we wished the recitation hour longer and 
the time for study not so short. To have known President Abbot 



76 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

as a teacher, and to have enjoyed his masterful lectures, pre- 
sented with a splendid diction and rare finish, explain the fact 
that highest ideals in culture and life were at the very first a 
treasured part of the equipment of this institution. The cause 
of agricultural education owes a great debt to this College, and 
to no one man more than to Dr. Abbot. 

As can truly be said of President Abbot, so we can say with 
equal truth of Mrs, Abbot, " None knew her but to love her, 
none named her but to praise." She was the true wife, cultured, 
bright, scintillating; she made their home the dearest place on 
the campus. It was a very Mecca to us students, and ever held 
its hospitable arms wide open to give glad welcome to us and 
our friends. How far I am from being alone in my feeHng that 
I owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to President and Mrs. 
Abbot! 

He was the ideal college president, great enough to consult 
with and hsten to his faculty and ever to keep the respect and 
confidence of his board. Such a president always commands 
a loyal student support, and his influence will ever be in the 
ascendency. Until disease laid its heavy hand upon him. Dr. 
Abbot was a tremendous power in the College, and better, a 
power that always made for righteousness. 

DR. MANLY MILES 

Dr. M. Miles, though not in the faculty at the opening of 
the College, came very soon, and for twenty years was a colossal 
force in molding its character and steering its course. Dr. Miles 
was a born scientist, a hard student, a close, accurate observer, 
and he loved to unearth truth as he loved nothing else. He made 
the truths of physiology and zoology fairly glow with interest. 
It was pleasure to give hardest effort to master his subjects. 
We knew that he burned the midnight oil, and the perfection 
of his work won the respect which every good teacher must 
command from his pupils. Laziness and good teaching are 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 77 

never bed-fellows. It is not too much to say that there was not 
a lazy hair in the capillary envelope of our beloved professor of 
agriculture. When he commenced to teach us entomology, 
there were no suitable textbooks, but what cared he ? Like 
Agassiz, whom he so much admired, he taught us to study the 
things of nature and not what others had said of them. His 
enthusiasm kindled a quick flame in the minds of his students; 
and how he loved to dig out the hidden truths of agriculture ; and 
what a superb course he built up in that branch ! Next to Dr. 
Abbot, and I am sure that Dr. Miles would wish me to make 
this exception, were he with us today, he did more than any 
other of that early staff, to direct this College rightly. It was 
a sorry day for this institution, when the governor demanded 
his resignation. If "dirt is matter out of place," then a short 
word describes that governor. Wliat Agassiz was to natural 
science development and teaching in this country, so was Dr. 
Miles to the development of agriculture and agricultural instruc- 
tion. Dr. Miles's versatiUty was surprising. He had rare 
genius in all lines of mechanical invention, and his readiness of 
resource added to his power over his students. This College, 
and agricultural education as well, must never forget how 
much that is best in their fabric came from the hard work and 
rare genius of Dr. Manly Miles. 

DR. GEORGE THURBER 

Dr. Thurber was very much like Dr. Miles in many ways. 
He was here but two or three years, and yet his hard work and 
marked ability in the science which he loved so well, and his 
vivacious enthusiasm made him a great favorite among all the 
students. The exceeding pleasure that came to me in the 
multitudinous walks with Dr. Thurber, and the love of natural 
science that came as he opened the great book of Nature in his 
marvelous fashion, awaked in me a loving appreciation that 
has deepened with the years. Dr. Thurber's government work 



78 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

had given him rich opportunity to solve Nature's problems, 
and he improved them to the utmost. The students thought of 
Dr. Thurber as a walking encyclopaedia, and indeed he deserved 
the title. He was quick with advice and information upon 
almost every subject; and his perpetual fund of wholesome 
humor made him the center of attraction in every social gather- 
ing. His telHng service in the horticultural department, and 
his exceptional ability to make science clear and fascinating, 
constituted seed of the right kind, when agricultural education 
was first taking root. Except for his one lamentable failing, 
what a power for good he might have become, in this first agri- 
cultural college ! I have often wished that he might have had 
in boyhood and youth such influence and companionship as 
would have come with association with one like Dr. Abbot. 
How different might have been his life, and how he might have 
enriched the science department of this College through his 
rare ability and genius ! 

PROFESSOR ALBERT N. PRENTISS 

Professor A. N. Prentiss was one of the first two alumni 
called to the faculty of this institution. My intimate association 
with him, and friendship for four years of college life, and my 
equally pleasant relation with him as a fellow-teacher, make it 
difficult to speak dispassionately regarding his character and 
work. Of all my college associates, next to Dr. Abbot, he did 
most for me. He was clean, true, able, industrious, and of that 
gracious make-up, that would never barter character for aught 
that life or man could offer. In the seven years that he taught 
here, he builded up the department of botany and horticulture 
in marvelous fashion. How little he had to help him, and yet 
how the students loved him and his work ! His dignity of bearing 
and purity of life were a constant inspiration to the entire student 
body. Cornell took a gem from us, when she captured Professor 
Prentiss. This College has made mistakes; I think the first 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 79 

was when she permitted Cornell to swoop down and rob us of 
the invaluable services of Professor A. N. Prentiss. 

PRESIDENT EDWIN WILLETS 

Many of you knew Edwin Willets as well as did I ; but I am 
sure that none of you loved him more. He was a man of broad 
outlook. He had a great heart and every student knew that 
President Willets was a friend that could be coimted on. We 
all had reason for sadness, when it was announced that President 
Willets had been called higher, and had accepted. With Presi- 
dent Willets came a change in the management of the College. 
I think it was a sad mistake, not to say a disastrous one. Before 
this, changes in internal management were suggested and all 
new appointments to the faculty were nominated by the presi- 
dent, but only after fullest conference with and approval of the 
faculty. The board only confirmed. No college board ought 
ever to do more. With President Willets came a lamentable 
change ; I feel sure without his desire. Additions to the faculty 
and startling changes in the internal management were made, 
with no consultation at all with the faculty, and at times, I 
think, without the knowledge of the president. I know not if 
this plan still prevails, but if it does, the College is laboring under 
a serious handicap, and one that the alumni should undertake 
at once to remove. 

PRESIDENT OSCAR CLUTE 

President Clute was the other of the first two alumni that 
served on the faculty. He was also a loved classmate. He 
was scholarly in his habits, and clean and true in his life. I need 
not speak to you of his quick response to duty's call. I must, 
however, give a page or two from the last chapter of his hfe. 
He lived near me, and I saw him often. He suffered great pain, 
and led a lonely hfe. At the last, he was in a great room at the 
Soldier's Home, and so knew no privacy or retirement. To one 



8o MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

of his peculiarly sensitive nature, this must have been a severe 
trial. Yet he made no murmur, and never was he more loved 
and respected by those closest to him than in those last sad 
days when pain and solitude laid such heavy hands upon him. 
He exemplifies in the last hours how real Christian character 
may glorify life, even in the "dark valley of the shadow of 
death." 

PROFESSOR C. L. INGERSOLL 

We were proud of Professor IngersoU. His work here was 
excellent. Subsequently, as a professor in a prominent univer- 
sity, and as president of one of our prominent agricultural 
colleges, he added new laurels to his fame. With us, he made his 
lectures so virile that though his students must work hard, yet 
they loved and respected their teacher, and were full of regrets, 
when another institution, that placed a higher value on his 
services, took him away. I have spoken of two mistakes made 
by this College, in bygone years; one was emphasized when 
such men as IngersoU, Garfield, Davenport, Durand, and 
Bailey were suffered to leave us. Think what prestige has 
come to Champaign, from the admirable work of Davenport! 
And what glory limited not by country's shores has come to 
Cornell, from the splendid work of Bailey ! All of this prestige 
should have come to their own Alma Mater, and would, had 
the value and the rarity of great teachers been appreciated. 
The faculty makes the college. Two things are of such incom- 
parable importance, that they must be insisted upon: the 
greatest pains must be taken in securing new men, and the 
valuable knowledge of the faculty must be utiHzed to the utmost 
in making selections. We must have high scholarship, aptness 
to teach, and most important of all, men of transcendent char- 
acter. The other point is just as important: when the right 
man is secured, hold to him with a relentless grip. Such a 
course will push any college into the ascendency. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 8 1 

E. M. PRESTON AND S. M. MILLARD 

I cannot forbear to give meed of loving appreciation of two 
of our alumni. Preston and Millard were samples of scores 
of the old-time boys : clean and spotless in their lives, possessed 
of a manly chivalry that was sweet and wholesome here, and 
that changed not as they stepped forth from college halls — men 
who set a pace, in that nothing was permitted to crowd between 
them and lessons thoroughly learned. The example of both 
was ever shouting, " Dig," in the ears of all of us students. Is it 
any wonder that both became marked men in the states they 
honored by citizenship ? Millard was for years the president 
of the regents of the University of Illinois, and Preston has his 
name perpetuated in one of the excellent institutions of Cali- 
fornia. 

As we come back to the dear old College, we are happy and 
proud to note the great growth and advancement that she has 
made; we deHght in the splendid men that have gone forth to 
true manly lives. And may we not drop tears in grateful memory 
of the men, who from the first gave of the best in their lives, that 
this College might be an example of highest excellence and that 
the alumni might honor their teachers, and their Alma Mater, 
by doing nobly their part in the world's work ? 



HOW THEY TAUGHT IN THE EARLY DAYS 



CHARLES EDWIN BESSEY, 1869 



Picture these grounds as they were forty years ago, with one 
college building (now, I think, called Wilhams Hall, but in 
those days merely " the College Building"), one small dormitory, 
four dwellings for professors, a barn, a toolhouse, and a shed for 
sheep; the grounds mostly ungraded, the surrounding fields 
undrained and still retaining many of the giant stumps left when 
the recent forest was cut away. About the College Building 
was a little spot of graded bluegrass lawn, with a few gravel 
walks bordered with flower-beds and shrubbery. Here had 
been retained some of the broad, spreading oaks of the primeval 
forest to give dignity to the landscape. North and south and 
east and west, the nearby forests still loomed, cool and shadowy, 
filled with wild shrubs and countless wild flowers. And through 
the grounds ran the Red Cedar River, with its overhanging 
trees, its single wooden bridge, and many inviting swimming- 
pools. It is a quiet, rural picture which comes back in memory 
as I think of the College of the days when I knew it best. 

The faculty as I first knew it consisted of six men : Abbot, 
our beloved president; Kedzie, the strong and sometimes stern 
chemist; Miles, the philosophical naturalist; Prentiss, the 
polished disciplinarian; Clute, the thoughtful student; and 
Fairchild, the mild-mannered scholar, now all resting in their 
graves ; added to a year or two later by Cook, the genial teacher, 
who is still Hving. There was one assistant, Daniels, a quiet, 
helpful man who assisted Dr. Kedzie in the laboratory work in 
chemistry. These men gave all of the instruction then offered in 
the single college course of study. The College Building con- 
tained thirteen rooms, namely: the Chapel, and the Chemical 

82 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 83 

Laboratory on the first floor; two recitation rooms, and four 
office rooms on the second floor; and the Library, Museum, and 
three recitation rooms (two quite small) on the third floor. 
The Chapel and Museum were sometimes used for recitations, 
so that there were seven rooms available for class purposes — 
not a bad showing for the little college of about a hundred 
students, when it is remembered that there were at most not 
more than four recitations each hour, and only six professors in 
all to hold recitations. In fact, but four rooms in addition to 
the Chapel were ordinarily used for classes. The chemical 
classes always met in the Chapel, since it was possible to bring 
apparatus to it very easily from the laboratory on the same floor. 
The classes in botany met in a small room at the southeast corner 
of the third floor. The other rooms were common, and were 
used by classes in any subjects. All of the regular classrooms 
were supplied with blackboards and plain wooden chairs, and 
these constituted the "appliances" of that day. In most cases 
the professors had neither tables, desks, nor cupboards. Each 
professor quite literally occupied a chair, and nothing further. 

It was emphatically the period of the textbook. Some of 
the professors gave lectures, but in every subject the student 
always had his textbook as the basis of his study, and daily 
recitations were the rule. We learned things from books, and 
were asked to repeat them orally at greater or less length to our 
teachers. We were not asked to write out what we knew, but 
were required to stand up and tell it under the keen eye of the 
professor, and the brutally critical attention of the class. In 
this way we learned to think on our feet, and I have always felt 
that much has been lost by the general abandonment of the old- 
time recitation, and the substitution of the written quiz and 
examination. 

Chemistry, even at that early day, was taught by practical 
work in the laboratory. We had one lecture or recitation a day, 
and in addition two hours daily of laboratory work. In the 



84 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

lecture the professor accompanied his presentation of the subject 
by carefully planned demonstration experiments, greatly to our 
edification, and occasionally to our amusement. In the labora- 
tory we plunged at once into the qualitative analysis of unknown 
substances. We learned to handle chemicals and apparatus 
by the very simple plan of actually handhng them ourselves. 
Of course we broke apparatus, and blew up things rather often, 
but finally we learned to be careful, and no one was killed or 
seriously hurt in the process. 

In marked contrast to chemistry, was the presentation of 
physics which was wholly a textbook study. We used Olm- 
stead's Natural Philosophy, reciting and demonstrating (on 
the blackboard) from its pages, but neither making experiments 
ourselves nor seeing any made by the professor. 

Surveying was made a living subject for us by the addition 
to a stiff textbook of a considerable amount of field-work, with 
compass, transit, and level, and the accurate plotting of results. 

Our geology was still a textbook subject only. There was 
no thought of the use of specimens of rocks or fossils by the 
class, nor was there any required field-work in connection with 
the subject. Yet there were in the Museum on the third floor 
many such specimens. The idea of their use by the students 
had not yet taken hold of teachers in American colleges. The 
Museum contained specimens to be looked at through the glass 
doors of the cases by the public and occasionally by the students, 
but such specimens were for preservation, not for handling. 

In zoology we used a textbook, but its required use was small, 
indeed. The professor (Dr. Miles) loved to talk to us, and he 
led us in his talks far deeper into the subject than did any 
textbook of that period. Thus while we got less of detail, we 
were given broader views and larger generalizations than would 
have been possible by the textbook method. We always had 
before us the skeleton of a cow or some other creature, and to 
it the lecturer recurred for illustration times without number, 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 85 

no doubt greatly to our benefit. Still the fact that we made no 
use of the mounted animals in the museum shows that the idea 
of illustrating the subject by specimens had not yet been adopted 
in zoology, to say nothing of the laboratory idea, of which 
apparently no one had yet thought. 

Even the subject of entomology was mainly a textbook study. 
We memorized so many pages and repeated them as nearly as 
possible verbatim. Here we looked at specimens brought to 
the class. There was also some desultory collecting of speci- 
mens, and now and then a student was seen frantically pawing 
the air with a ''bug-net," in his efforts to capture some beetle, 
bug, or butterfly. But we were under no supervision as to 
any field-work we might undertake. A few of us were fortunate 
enough to be employed in arranging and labeling the college 
collections under the supervision of the professor, and here we 
learned much about insects, their appearance, classification, 
and the practical work of making a scientific collection. It 
was laboratory work, but none of us recognized it, nor did we 
ever use the word "laboratory" in connection with it. 

In my own science of botany the work was then mainly con- 
fined to daily recitations from a textbook, accompanied later 
by dissections and "analyses" of plants in the classroom, under 
the direction of the professor. We had a few simple dissecting 
microscopes which we used in these exercises. Here was no 
doubt the germ of the laboratory idea as applied to botany. 
But the purpose was not so much to find out the structure of the 
plant as to find its name. When that was accomplished we 
stopped further study of the plant. The name was the impor- 
tant thing and when it was found there was nothing more to be 
done, unless perhaps to check it off on the margin of the manual. 
In pursuance of this phase of botany we were required to do a 
good deal of field-work. We wandered over the fields, through 
the woods and swamps, often for long distances, in search of 
plants whose names we found out and duly recorded. Yet 



86 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

our work was neither supervised nor corrected, nor were our 
lists of species submitted as a part of our work. We were not 
required to make herbarium specimens, although encouraged to 
do so, and some of us did make herbaria on our own account. 

There was at that day a considerable collection of plants 
known as the "Cooley Herbarium" that had come into the 
possession of the College, and fortunately for me, it was in need 
of being mounted and labeled, and it fell to me to do it. This 
work which occupied my time for many weeks gave me most 
valuable experience in a department of the subject that was 
not taken up in the classroom. 

The College then owned an immense Ross compound micro- 
scope, which we used to see standing in a case in a corner of the 
botanical classroom. It was never taken out for use in class, 
but always stood there as a challenge to us. I do not know 
what anyone else did, but at last I could stand it no longer, and 
getting permission from Professor Prentiss, who gave me the 
key to the case, I locked myself in the classroom, and taking out 
the ponderous instrument, looked it over, studied its complex 
machinery, and made myself familiar with its structure and use. 
This was my first use of the compound microscope, and this 
was all the practice I had with the instrument while in the 
CoUege. It was not much, but it was a beginning, and it enabled 
me to handle the next instrument which came into my hands 
when a teacher myself, and to this extent made my own work 
more successful. 

It was a primitive coUege, and the teaching of the sciences 
was primitive. We may smile now at the kind of instruction 
we received at the hands of the professors of that day, but it 
must not be forgotten that science teaching was rather new in 
all colleges at that time. Sciences were not well taught in any 
of them. In many they were not taught at all. And it is the 
glory of our Alma Mater that she encouraged the study of these 
sciences. Forty years ago this was the only college in the West 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 87 

in which one could study all of the great sciences in any manner, 
or after any fashion at all. And it is greatly to her credit that, 
with the possible exception of Harvard University, this College 
then gave the most extended and thorough course in botany in 
this country. 

It was a pioneer in science teaching, and its primitive methods 
were due to the fact that nowhere were better methods known 
or practiced. Elsewhere they were generally still more primi- 
tive. The College stood then as now for the study of things, as 
shown especially in its teaching of agriculture, horticulture, and 
stock breeding. In so far as possible even then the thing rather 
than the book was studied. The College was instinctively, though 
unconsciously, moving toward the modern laboratory method. 
It led the way toward illustration and the direct study of things 
themselves, and gave a strong impulse in aid of the incoming of 
the laboratory idea. 

That the professors of that day builded better than they 
knew is no doubt true, but we cannot on that account withhold 
from them our praise for their good work, nor our gratitude for 
what they did for us. No alumnus of this College need be 
ashamed of the kind of work done in the early days, but rather 
should he be proud that his Alma Mater, though so young among 
the colleges of that time, was among the first to adopt modern 
methods of teaching and study. 



THE COLLEGE IN 1870 



WILLIAM JAMES BEAL 



Early in May, 1870, 1 made my first visit to this College, then 
13 years old, to teach botany during the summer. As a con- 
tributor to the Prairie Farmer I came with keen interest and 
wrote out my first impressions. Lansing was a town of 6,000 to 
7,000, in the midst of which was the old capitol constructed of 
wood. There was but one railroad passing through the city 
from Jackson to Saginaw, and that was of primitive style. I 
secured a ride to the College with a farmer, and on the way soon 
learned that many farmers within twenty miles placed a low 
estimate on the value of the "state farm," as it was often called 
at that time. The course extended over clay knolls and cordu- 
roy, the poles of which were to keep the wagon wheels from get- 
ting deep into the mire. I saw how it was that President Abbot 
rarely rode in a buggy that was not well plastered over with clay. 
We were welcomed to the campus by driving through a patent 
self-opening gate — often out of order. 

It is unnecessary for me to give a detailed description of the 
campus. Large numbers of the trees of the oak opening were 
dotted over the ground, most of which had been heavily cut back 
from the top with the thought that it would improve their appear- 
ance. This work had been done by C. E. HoUister, then a 
student and later a member of the first class to graduate in 186 1. 

At the right of the main gateway, then nearly due north from 
College Hall, were four small brick dwellings for the president 
and three professors. The bricks for these and the two halls 
were manufactured on the college campus, west of the present 
armory. Here^ is old College Hall, Williams Hall just com- 

I While reading this paragraph Dr. Beal pointed to various locations on 
a large map of the campus as it was in 1870. — Editor. 




o 

W o 

O ^ 

U 



bO 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 89 

pleted, the old Boarding Hall later dubbed "Saints' Rest," for 
reasons which I never fully appreciated. Here the old brick 
horse-barn, there the farmhouse, herdman's house, the old barn 
for grain and cattle, a greenhouse of primitive form, and the barn 
for use of the horticultural department. There is the town line 
between Lansing and Meridian. What is that zig-zag Une along 
the road ? Do you not recognize a drawing of a rail fence which 
has nearly gone out of fashion ? Names of the faculty here, and 
there the list of buildings, and up there the number of students 
in different classes ; and on this chart are the names of the studies 
pursued. 

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN 1870 

FRESHMAN CLASS 



First term 




Second term 


Algebra 




Trigonometry 


Geometry 




Surveying 


History 




Practical Agriculture 


Bookkeeping 




Geology 




SOPHOMORE YEAR 


English Literature 




Entomology 


Botany 




Analytical Chemistry 


Elementary Chemistry 


Botany 






Horticulture 



JUNIOR YEAR 

Physics Physics 

Agricultural Chemistry Meteorology 

Inductive Logic Rhetoric 

Animal Physiology 

SENIOR YEAR 

Zoology Landscape Gardening 

Practical Agriculture Civil Engineering 

Mental Philosophy Moral Philosophy 

Astronomy Political Economy 

French French 

In 1870 the income of the College was less than .$40,000, the 
year closing with a deficit of $6,000. 



90 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

The College was young, poor, and small. No member of the 
faculty had a chair to himself, but occupied a whole settee. For 
example, the professor of botany also taught history, some Eng- 
lish, algebra, and civil engineering. The students took break- 
fast a little after six, and got out of chapel by seven, where the 
president called the roll. Classes extended over a period of four 
hours, all closing at time for dinner. In the afternoon for three 
hours all students were engaged in manual labor. While the 
classes were small and much rough work to be done, such as 
ditching and chopping wood, it was possible to enforce the law 
regarding manual labor, but as the College became older, the 
students more numerous, and foremen insufficient, the manage- 
ment of student labor was very burdensome and was perplexing 
in the extreme. Student labor was paid for at a maximum of 
seven and one-half cents an hour, and very little of it was in- 
structive. 

The regular system of hours for all exercises was recognized 
by horses as well as by students. For example, the department 
of horticulture worked an old black stage horse called "Old 
Prof.," which always started for the shed as soon as the after- 
noon bell rang. He was very orderly, soon learning to back the 
cart into a certain place under the shed. 

The rough lane in place of the present one extended south 
across the river ending in a tamarack swamp known as "Num- 
ber 12," and all beyond was in forest. No railroads crossed the 
farm in those days. 

Fifty-nine students had graduated, of whom three had died. 
The ten women students selected such studies as suited them 
from the only course offered at the College, viz., the course in 
agriculture. Even at that day. President Abbot urged that some 
special provisions be made for a course suited to women, includ- 
ing household economy. 

The college year consisted of two semesters, beginning late in 
February and closing with commencement in November, thus 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 91 

affording an opportunity for students who desired it to teach a 
district school in winter. As will be seen, the entrance to the 
college classes was easy and of low standing. There was only 
one laboratory, and that was for chemistry in the north end of 
College Hall. 

In 1870 it was not difficult to plan a course of study for an 
agricultural college. Except some points gathered from man- 
ual labor, which were not numerous nor very important, the 
students received, all told, eight weeks of daily work in horti- 
culture and ten weeks in agriculture, and these topics were 
chiefly taught by the slow process of lectures. There were few 
books and papers to aid students in their pursuit of agriculture. 
The College was in the woods, so to speak, with no model to 
follow. Nowhere in this broad country were students taught 
advanced stock judging, stock feeding, the examination of 
dressed meats, soil physics, dairying, plant breeding, plant 
histology, ecology, plant pathology, the critical study of grasses, 
weeds, or trees, plant physiology, farm economics, the growing 
of forest trees, spraying for insects and fungus. Bacteriology as 
related to animals, dairying, soils, and plants was a sealed book. 

The College had been started long before there was much 
demand for it by the best of farmers. This was due to the per- 
sistence of John C. Holmes, then secretary of the State Agri- 
cultural Society, more than to all other persons combined. 
Inaugurated under such conditions, adverse criticism was inevi- 
table. Newspapers gave the College plenty of negative or left- 
hand advertising. For many years the only advertisements 
paid for was a part of a page in the Michigan Almanac. As 
late as 1870, the College had little contact with farmers by way 
of institutes or extension correspondence. 

A few staunch men stood nobly by the College, notable among 
whom was Hon. Jonathan J. Woodman, afterward master of the 
State Grange and later master of the National Grange. From 
1869 to 187 1 he was speaker of the House of Representatives 



92 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

and admitted that the College was not what it should be; but 
that was no reason why it should be discontinued, rather, "it 
is a reason why we should hold on, rally to its support, doing 
the best we can to help make it better, that it may become a 
credit to the state, the nation, and the whole civiHzed world." 
A word about this chart on the wall, to which Mr. Monroe 
has referred. Six inches in length represents a year, and the 
width indicates the number of students in each year. The 
additions and endowments are represented on the upper side; 
the names of the presidents appear in the middle of the stream, 
sometimes deep and often turbulent. Leading events are named 
on the lower edge of the canvas. The widening stream repre- 
senting I, coo students, on which appears the name of President 
Snyder, is not the delta as it might seem, right at the entrance to 
a great sea, but is believed to represent this College fairly enter- 
ing on a long series of years of ever-increasing prosperity when 
the students shall be numbered by thousands. 



EARLY MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BOARD 



CHARLES W. GARFIELD, 1870 



To successfully manage an educational institution which 
connects itself with important matters of statecraft requires the 
highest type of public-spirited citizenship. To perform the best 
work in this capacity a man's purview must exceed the range of 
vision which is hmited by a desire to serve his own ambition. 
Men of this type are not so plentiful as to make the task of their 
selection an easy one. 

In any special type of education, which has to work its way 
into popular favor by the development of resuks which appeal 
strongly to the average man who feels it his right and privilege 
to criticize, there are special difficulties which often become a 
menace to the highest grade of management. When this 
management is in an appointive board the authority which is 
responsible for the appointments really holds the reins of the 
institution. In our own state the governor has from near the 
beginning of the Agricultural College had the appointment of 
the members of the Board of Agriculture. He has not always 
been guided by the highest purposes, but has occasionally con- 
sidered these appointments as opportunities to wipe out the 
lesser political obligations incident to a political campaign. 

However, as I review the history of our College management 
and recall the anxieties connected with its growth, I think we 
have been extremely fortunate in having at every period in its 
history representatives of the highest type of citizenship in the 
management of the institution. 

In the early days the position of a member on the Board of 
Agriculture was far from being a sinecure. Not only did the 
members serve without pay, but the closest economy in their 

93 



94 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

personal expense was required. I recall on many occasions 
seeing these dignified gentlemen drawn through a continuous 
mud hole from Lansing to the College in a farm wagon very 
poorly provided with elasticity in its springs. These men were 
domiciled with the various members of the faculty during the 
periods of their meetings, and in the reports of the auditor- 
general I notice that in many instances the only bill rendered 
in the expense account was the railroad fare. It was at no small 
sacrifice of life comforts that these gentlemen performed the 
service of managing the CoUege. 

During those early days the students graded higher in age 
than now, and full-bearded men were common in the student 
body in the years immediately following the Civil War. I recall 
an instance when one of the recent appointees upon the faculty 
mistook a board member for one of these students and the 
conversation, which was intended to be patronizing, became 
extremely ridiculous. 

I have been fortunate in having had acquaintance with 
nearly every member of the Board of Agriculture since it became 
the controlling body of the CoUege. Of nearly fifty men who 
have served in this capacity under appointment of the various 
governors, I can speak of but few and choose them rather be- 
cause of the impression they made upon my own mind as ac- 
complishing results in connection with the evolution of the 
institution of more than ordinary value. 

First of all, towering above his colleagues, is the figure of 
Judge Hezekiah G. WeUs, whose home was in Kalamazoo. He 
was a man of poise ; he had a wide range of ability and the most 
courtly manners; he was a natural leader. He came upon the 
board when his type of character was most needed. He was a 
fearless advocate of agricultural education when it had no popu- 
lar favor; he was an earnest and persistent defender of the faith 
when an agricultural education was sneered at by the educators, 
and encountered the opposition of a united farm community. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 95 

Never once, while he was a member of the Board of Agriculture, 
did he falter in his purpose to make this first attempt in giving 
an education toward agriculture a successful object-lesson in the 
state of Michigan. While he did not live to see the full fruition 
of his faithful service, the dawn appeared before he laid his 
armor down. 

Mr. S. O. Knapp, of Jackson, came upon the board when his 
practical knowledge of affairs was most needed in the erection of 
the second set of buildings and in the development of the campus. 
Unusual duties were placed upon the shoulders of Mr. Knapp 
because of his abihty and his nearness to the College. His knowl- 
edge of business methods enabled him to economize the re- 
stricted appropriations granted by the legislature so as to make 
every dollar count for the institution. For many years he gave 
freely of his time and energy, and to him, perhaps more than to 
any one of the earlier members of the board, belongs the credit 
of instituting the poHcy of definiteness in the financial pohcy of 
the institution. 

J. Webster Childs, of Ypsilanti, came upon the board after 
having poHtical training and the acquirement of knowledge as 
to the points of view taken by the farmers of the state. He was 
a leader in the Grange movement and it was through the in- 
fluence of his strong individuality that the farmers, through this 
organization, new at that time, were brought into sympathy with 
the College and began first to understand the possibilities in its 
methods of education. 

George W. Phillips, of Romeo, was a leading stock man and 
one of the managers of the Michigan State Fair. He was also 
interested in the first movement to establish farmers' institutes 
in this state. He brought great strength and sympathy to the 
CoUege through his commanding position in agricultural organi- 
zations and his profound faith in the purposes of the College. 

Franklin Wells, of Constantine, performed the longest service 
of any man in the history of the Board of Agriculture of Michigan 



96 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

and every year's service from the first to the last was of increasing 
value to the College. He was a practical business man and gave 
his attention largely to the handling of the finances of the College. 
He had Httle patience with glittering generalities. Exactness in 
method and clearly defined purposes, with complete records of 
all transactions in which public funds were employed, were 
matters of great concern to him. Governor Bagley, in naming 
him at his first appointment, said, "I want a good business man 
in the college management," and in selecting Mr. Wells he 
performed a most valuable service to the institution, the impress 
of which was etched into the College history during a period of 
more than a quarter of a century. 

For many years the alumni of the College, while not criticizing 
the action of any governor in making the appointments, argued 
that there should be a graduate of the institution on its board of 
management, and Henry G. Reynolds, of Old Mission, was the 
first selection which recognized this expression and influence of 
the Alumni Association. Mr. Reynolds brought into the atmos- 
phere of the board a new element. He was closely in touch 
with a large number of the graduates of the College; he under- 
stood their contentions for modifications in the trend of the 
College, and was fortunate in having a disposition which harmo- 
nized with the other elements of the board, and from the very 
outset his influence became strongly in evidence in the activities 
of the board. 

Col. William B. McCreery, of Flint, came upon the board 
after having filled various positions in the state government and 
with a very clear understanding of the elements of opposition 
which had been so strongly in evidence during the earlier years of 
the college history. From the very outset he was ready to fight 
for the institution and would not for a moment listen to adverse 
criticism without putting up an aggressive defense. He was 
a man of quick intuition, ready in alternatives, earnest in his 
methods, a good story-teller, and never knew what it was to be 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 97 

discouraged. His keen sense of humor many times enlivened 
sessions of the board which under the serious conditions would 
otherwise have been very somber. 

Henry Chamberlain, of Three Oaks, twice served the state 
for a term of six years on this board. He was an example of 
old-time gentility, courteous in manners, a student of educational 
methods, a practical pohtician of a most excellent type, and a 
broad-minded and determined man. He was always a fine 
member to work with whether in committee of the whole or upon 
a special mission. He was a keen observer of men, and during 
his term of service perhaps had more to do with the selection of 
members to go upon the teaching force than any other member 
in the history of the Board of Agriculture. Wherever Mr. 
Chamberlain went he was a partisan for agricultural education, 
and he never considered it out of place to talk about the Michigan 
Agricultural College. The institution was on his heart as well 
as on his mind. 

Cyrus G. Luce, of Coldwater, was rather a caustic critic of 
the College previous to receiving his appointment upon the 
board. He soon became convinced, however, of the great value 
the institution could subserve in the state, and because of his 
leadership in the Grange and in legislative halls he became a 
power for good in the development of the institution. And when 
he came into the gubernatorial chair, he, of aU the governors, 
was the most regular in his attendance as an ex-officio member 
of the board. 

Ira H. Butterfield, of Lapeer, came upon the board after 
having had a wide experience in the management of the State 
Fair Association and in filling a position of trust imder the United 
States government. Having had journalistic experience also, 
his services were of pecuUar value to the College in that he gave 
voice to its methods; and because he was a master of details, 
he was always ready with a wealth of information to meet almost 
any possible contingency in the movement of the College to 



98 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

catch the sympathies of people generally in its behalf. He 
had genius in originating methods of promotion; he was re- 
sourceful in plans for advertising the institution, and he knew, 
better than any other member of my acquaintance, how to gather 
in adherents to the cause of agricultural education without mak- 
ing antagonisms. 

As my mind recalls the other names connected with the 
College management in the early days, it seems as if I was com- 
mitting a serious error in not calUng attention to other men who 
did special services, but time will not permit. All honor to 
these citizens of Michigan who fought the good fight for a type 
of education which has permeated the whole vast field of school 
and college and university influence. They builded better than 
they knew, and today it would make our cup of happiness to 
run over if we could see these pioneers in the service of agri- 
cultural education witness the fruition of which they scarcely 
dreamed. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 99 



MENDELSSOHN'S ORATORIO 

Elijah 

WEDNESDAY EVENING 

Soprano — Mrs. Lillian French Reed 

Chicago 

Contralto — Miss Viola Paulus 

Chicago 

Tenor — Mr. John Young 

New York 

Basso — Dr. Carl Dufft 

New York 

THE BACH ORCHESTRA OF MILWAUKEE 
Christopher Bach — Conductor 

COLLEGE CHORUS 
Miss Louise Freyhofer — Director 



OPEN SESSION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND 

EXPERIMENT STATIONS 

THURSDAY MORNING 



DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 



ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN 
Commissioner of Education 



The pioneer farmers of America had a double interest in 
life. First and foremost, they were pioneers, with all of the 
dangers and excitements of that pioneer life. Secondarily, 
they were farmers. It was hard and rude and unskilful, the 
farming in which they were engaged, but it gave them the necessi- 
ties of Hfe. When the first dull opposition of nature was over- 
come, when cabins had been built and woodlands cleared and 
the plow had in some way done its first work, the soil showed 
itself responsive and fertile enough. For a time, at least, life 
was easier. But the zest of pioneering was gone, and the more 
adventurous of our people soon moved on to the West, where 
they might feel the thin edge of civilization still cutting its earhest 
way through raw nature and barbarism, and know that that 
keen edge was their own life and endeavor. The farmers who 
remained behind were now farmers only and no longer pioneers. 
They saw the first rank fertility of the soil fall back into more 
moderate bounds. Their Hfe became tame and binding. New 
wants arose with the rise of new social relations. A few in every 
community were able, by insight and energy, to keep still in the 
forefront of things in that new age, but for many the occupa- 
tion which made up the greater part of their Hfe had become 
an unpromising, uninspiring, unenlightened servitude. In this 
jubilee today we are to recall the ways in which new zest has 
been brought into the depressed Hfe of the American farmer, the 
ways in which his farm has been made part of a new frontier, 
and he has been made once more a pioneer. 

At first the improvement of our husbandry was the work of a 

103 



I04 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

few men, and these were men whose interest in farming was, in 
large part, a public interest. George Washington was one of 
the earliest and one of the most influential of these. First in 
war and first in peace, he was also, it would seem, the first 
American farmer of his day. His outlook over the educational 
needs of the new nation included proposals for the estabhshment 
of boards of agriculture, a military academy, and a national 
university. Other statesmen with a care for agriculture and 
other farmers who were statesmen in their view urged that prac- 
tical provision be made for the collection and dissemination 
of agricultural information. In the opinion of these men it was 
information that was chiefly needed — information regarding the 
experience and experiments of those who were already most 
advanced in the practice of agriculture — to insure the general 
improvement of the farming industry. The new awakening in 
European agriculture had great influence among the leaders of 
American agriculture at this time. 

It was while we were still under the Articles of Confederation 
that a beginning was made in the formation of agricultural 
societies. Pennsylvania and South Carolina had established 
such societies before the adoption of the Constitution. New 
York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut followed during Washing- 
ton's administration. The publications of these societies had 
begun to appear before the close of the eighteenth century, and 
agricultural fairs came into being in the first decades of the 
nineteenth century. Various endeavors to secure the establish- 
ment of a national board of agriculture had led, before the day 
that we here celebrate, to the first seed distributions through the 
national Patent Office, and to the first separate agricultural 
appropriation, in 1854. 

Through these several movements, supplemented by a 
comparatively early development of an agricultural periodical 
literature, and through many later developments of agricul- 
tural organization, the growth of interest in the improvement of 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 105 

rural conditions has long been actively fostered. But our atten- 
tion today must be centered upon the development of organized 
agricultural education, and to that subject we will turn without 
any further delay. 

Let us first note some bearings of agricultural education 
which have often been discussed, but must be considered here 
again in the interest of true educational perspective. Historically 
it has been found extremely difficult to bring the subject of agri- 
culture into any manageable pedagogic form. The fact that 
everybody in the country knows something about it is at first 
a hindrance rather than a help. It is difficult to treat the sub- 
ject in such manner as to avoid, on the one hand, an excess of 
platitude, a repetition of what everyone knows or thinks he 
knows, and, on the other hand, an excess of unutilized natural 
science, deeply interesting in itself but hard to apply on the farm. 
Certain other subjects, of which education itself is one, share in 
this handicap. It is a difficulty met with in European schools 
of agriculture, and it had not been overcome in Europe or Amer- 
ica when the Michigan State Agricultural College came into 
being. The most effective training for manual occupations was 
still some form of apprenticeship, apart from schools, while the 
school had long held the foremost place in preparation for liter- 
ary pursuits. How to combine, in one educative process, the 
advantages of the school and the advantages of the apprentice 
system was the problem of agricultural education. In one form 
or another it has been the problem of all our education for spe- 
cial occupations in the past half-century. For the student of 
educational history, then, this problem of agricultural education 
appears as one phase, and a pecuUarly difficult phase, of the 
larger problem of training for any particular vocation in life. 
You will not look to me to contribute anything to the special 
history of this institution, which others, here on the ground, 
may be expected to treat so much more effectively than I could 
treat it. But my theme deals rather with the broader move- 



io6 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

ment of which the notable history of this institution forms a 
part. 

It would be difficult to say just where and how systematic 
instruction in the principles of agriculture took its rise in this 
country. Such instruction was given in some sort in Moor's 
Indian school, out of which Dartmouth College arose, back even 
in colonial days. Benjamin Franklin proposed such instruction 
for the academy at Philadelphia, the forerunner of the University 
of Pennsylvania, but it does not appear that this part of his plan 
was realized. In the 20's and 30's of the nineteenth century 
great interest was excited in the so-called manual-labor schools. 
It was proposed that a farm be attached to the schools, and that 
those who were studying during a part of the day should engage 
in ordinary farm labor during another part of the day. The 
purpose, to be sure, was primarily to provide a way by which 
students might "pay their way" through school. But there was 
a thought, too, of instruction in the better methods of farming, 
and at least a vague dream of something better yet, the vital 
union of thought and manual toil. Some of the old-line colleges 
showed at least good-will toward the scientific aspects of agri- 
culture, Columbia even establishing a professorship under which 
agriculture was ranged alongside of other sciences. Then just 
at the middle of the century, the state of Michigan provided in 
its constitution of 1850 for the establishment of an agricultural 
school, and seven years later this institution, the first of its kind 
and grade in the United States, was ready to enrol its first stu- 
dents. Pennsylvania had already incorporated its Farmers' 
High School, but it was preceded by two years in the actual 
opening by this State Agricultural College of Michigan. A 
little later in that same notable year, 1857, Justin S. Morrill of 
Vermont first introduced his measure for the endowment of 
agricultural and mechanical colleges in the several states by the 
national government. 

What is especially worthy of note at this point is the fact that 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 107 

this movement, which was primarily a movement of the people 
or rather of the leaders of the people, found parallel embodiment 
in both state and national legislation. At first both the states 
and the nation moved but slowly and tentatively. But within 
a few years large beginnings had been made. In this, as in other 
public interests, within the broad limitations of the national 
constitution, working adjustments of state and national agencies 
to each other have been made from time to time, in view of 
practical needs rather than of academic theories. 

The great, epoch-making act of this whole movement was 
undoubtedly the Morrill Act, which finally reached its passage 
when civil war had lent new power to the spirit of nationahty in 
the national legislature. In signing this act, on July 2, 1862, 
Abraham Lincoln, that "new birth of our new soil," that sur- 
veyor of western lands, who was to drive the labor of slaves from 
our American fields, now joined his work with that of Washing- 
ton, to make our American tillage the doing of men made free 
by knowledge and enUghtened skill. 

By the Morrill Act of 1862 the national government gave aid 
to the states, in the way of liberal grants of lands; it encouraged 
the states to do in their own several ways the work of higher 
education in the domain of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 
While technical studies were brought to the front in this act, it 
refused to draw a line of opposition between those technical 
subjects and the training which makes for liberal culture. And 
both technical and liberal training were joined with preparation 
for the defense of the nation's life. 

Other important acts soon followed: That estabhshing a 
national department of agriculture, in 1862, which department 
was raised to cabinet rank in 1889; and that estabhshing a 
department of education in 1867, which department was re- 
duced to the rank of a bureau in 1869. In their different ways, 
these two government offices have both had to do with the 
administration of the later acts for agricultural education; and 



io8 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

I think I may add that on their effective co-operation depends 
the full realization in the future of the high purposes for which 
those acts were passed. 

After the Civil War the estabHshment of agricultural colleges 
went steadily forward till such institutions, aided by the land 
grants of the general government, had been erected in all of the 
states, with eventually sixteen schools for colored students added 
in the southern states. The association of these colleges was 
organized, the Hatch acts brought new aid from the general 
government for the maintenance of experiment stations, the 
second Morrill Act added its large federal appropriations for the 
furtherance of the ordinary work of the colleges, the summer 
graduate school was organized, the Adams Act provided for 
advanced research in agriculture, and finally the Nelson amend- 
ment to the agricultural appropriation bill of 1907 has brought 
still larger financial support to the colleges, together with per- 
missive provision for the use of a part of the federal grant in the 
training of teachers of agriculture. It is a record of notable 
advance, and we can hardly doubt that the great heart of Wash- 
ington would have been glad to see the results that we may see 
today. 

When we attempt to interpret the course of this educational 
development and to plan for further advance, we need the help 
of some general conceptions relating to our social organization. 
For it is evident that agricultural education cannot be a thing 
apart and alone. Its real and lasting strength is to be found in 
its connection with general education. And the strength of 
general education and of all of its special developments is to be 
found in the connection of the schools with the real life of our 
people. 

Passing over all other views of our democracy, however 
essential and interesting they may be, permit me to caU attention 
just now to the function of those who are called leaders in a 
democratic society. For we now commonly recognize the fact 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 109 

that democracy does not dispense with leaders, but rather makes 
the strongest demand for positive leadership. But in such a 
society it is not for one individual or one class simply to lead, 
while another class simply follows. The true leader in a democ- 
racy is one who, while leading in all reality, is capable of learning 
from his followers. And the followers of such a leader in a true 
democracy are not those who follow because they do not think, 
but those who follow because they think and are able to recog- 
nize their leader. They follow because they are convinced. 
So our whole social fabric is made up of leaders who must learn 
if they would continue to lead, and their peculiarly restless and 
skittish constituencies. Here as everywhere the relation of 
leaders to constituencies is permanent and essential, but within 
that permanent relationship there is continual interplay and 
shifting of parts. It is a normal condition with us that those 
who have the subordinate part should be increasingly intelligent, 
critical, and ready to assume the actual leadership. 

This is the state of things that our system of education fosters 
and must continue to foster. It must bring forth scientific 
experts who shall be able to teach the people the principles under- 
lying the arts of life, and it must train up a people to make for 
the expert an intelligent constituency, quick to seize on all that 
he may offer for the betterment of their practice, and quick to 
reject those suggestions that they cannot put to use. So our 
public health rests upon the co-operation of highly trained ex- 
perts in medicine and sanitation and a people who can act intelli- 
gently upon their directions and regulations. So our public and 
domestic architecture is improving slowly — very slowly — through 
the co-operation of architects who know their art and a building 
people who know their architects, and who follow them in part 
and frustrate them in part. So, too, our agricultural education 
must proceed. There must be training of the highest sort for 
our agricultural experts. More than that, at the topmost reach 
of our agricultural education there must be that which is not 



no MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

commonly recognized as education at all, the pure research of 
the pure scientist. For no education can continue to be really 
alive unless it draws directly, from some source of new and 
abounding knowledge, a fresh supply, never yet handled and 
made common among mankind. It may be very little that any 
year or any age may have to give that is altogether new, but that 
little will sweeten all the rest. Then our system of education 
must reach down to schools of the lowest grade, the little country 
schools, in which the capable constituency of the great experts 
is to be trained; and there, too, some of the future leaders are to 
make their first beginnings. The most of those in such schools 
are to live by the practical art of farming. But in these days 
they are to have the skill to take the science of the scientist and 
transform it into the art of their Hves. They are to read agri- 
cultural bulletins and understand and use them. They are to 
pick their way and keep from being mired in the mass of such 
literature now provided for their reading. They are to attend 
institutes and conventions, where they will listen with discrimi- 
nation to long and learned papers, and make short and pertinent 
speeches of their own. They are to find the farm interesting 
in the highest degree, because of new hopes of profitable pro- 
duction which it offers and because of its connection with the 
great world of ideas. 

When we grow more skilful, we shall make elementary 
schools of a better-rounded type, in which the book-learning 
that has long been the distinctive province of the school shall 
join to itself the best things in the old system of apprenticeship ; 
and from that combination shall arise something better than 
either one in its lonesome isolation. Already we are beginning 
to make institutions somewhat of this order, and it will be done 
much better yet as time goes on. 

This, then, is what we may see as the ideal, in agricultural 
education and equally in education of other kinds, and perhaps 
of every kind: A system of schools complete in its sequence 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION iii 

from the lowest to the highest, in which the study of books is 
closely joined with training for some of the practical arts of life ; 
in which all practical training is kept in vital touch with general 
education; in which the ability to form sound and stable judg- 
ment is sought throughout as a thing of very great price; in 
which the higher schools send into the lower schools an unbroken 
succession of teachers who both know the truth and are able to 
bring others to a knowledge of the truth ; and in which, finally, 
the stream of knowledge fresh and new, from some department 
of pure research, shall never fail to keep fresh and bright the old 
wisdom of the ages gone before. Or, in more concrete state- 
ment, our elementary schools and high schools in country com- 
munities are still to be primarily schools of general education, 
but with much more of training in the arts of the farm, and the 
sciences lying near to those arts ; our state colleges of agriculture 
and mechanic arts are to prepare young men and young women 
to read intelligently the literature of scientific agriculture, to 
form independent judgments in agricultural matters, and to 
bring their new knowledge into connection with the real work 
of the farm; these state colleges, moreover, are to provide well- 
trained teachers of agriculture and related subjects for the 
elementary and secondary schools; the colleges of agriculture, 
still further, are to be co-operative educational institutions and 
not merely special and local institutions — they are to co-operate 
with similar institutions in other states, in order that the work 
of one may be strengthened by the work of all, and co-operate 
with the universities of their several states for the innumerable 
advantages to both which may come from such united effort. 
The National Department of Agriculture is undoubtedly to 
continue its remarkably wide and influential work, its expert 
investigations, the issuance of manifold and vastly useful publi- 
cations, and its furtherance of all manner of agricultural educa- 
tion and research in the several states. Finally, the Bureau of 
Education is to do as thoroughly as possible the part of this work 



112 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

assigned to it. I venture the hope that with enlarged resources 
it may do more than it is now expected to do, and that without 
trespassing on the proper field of other institutions. 

Let me speak a little more particularly of the part of this 
program which falls to the education office of the general govern- 
ment. It can do its best work, I think, as a co-ordinating 
influence. It can bring to the notice of the less favored institu- 
tions information concerning the experience of more advanced 
institutions. It can call attention from time to time to the 
relation of agricultural education to general education. It can 
survey the educational field and possibly point out dangers to 
be averted or weak places to be strengthened. It can, finally, 
discover things that need the doing and are not attended to by 
any other agency, and can see that some part of such lack is 
supplied. So much as this I hope the Bureau of Education may 
be able to do for our agricultural education. And so much as 
this I may say it will undertake to do as far as its resources will 
permit. 

Just at this time, a survey of the field seems to show that the 
paramount need is the need of a supply of qualified teachers. 
Arrangements have already been made for the publication in 
the fall of an issue of the Bulletin of the Bureau of Education 
devoted to the present condition of the agricultural and mechani- 
cal colleges, and particularly to the ways by which teachers may 
be trained in those colleges to meet the needs of high schools 
and normal schools in which agricultural subjects are taught. 
A preliminary account of the history and present condition of 
agricultural education throughout the world is to appear in the 
near future, in another issue of the Bulletin, which will, it is 
hoped, be of help in such training of teachers and a help to those 
teachers who are already in the field. 

In conclusion, the view cannot be too strongly stressed that 
all of this^agricultural education is a contribution to the general 
education of the American people and to the betterment of 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 113 

American life. You who celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of 
this institution reaUze, as the history of this College has shown, 
that it is not simply larger crops and better breeds of stock and 
a more profitable output of farm manufacture for which you are 
laboring; but through these means and through all other inter- 
ests of the modern farm, you are worldng for the improvement 
of American citizenship, and that with special reference to the 
needs of this great state of Michigan. May you long continue 
to serve the commonwealth and the larger repubhc as faith- 
fully and as successfully. And may every good cause in this 
land feel the reinforcement of a wholesome and vigorous life in 
the homes of our country communities, which have been made 
more prosperous homes and better homes because of the work 
that you are doing here. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING EDUCA- 
TION IN THE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 



WINTHROP ELLSWORTH STONE 



It is matter of conjecture as to how far Senator Morrill and 
his colleagues foresaw the great and true significance of the now 
famous act of Congress estabhshing the land-grant colleges. 
That it was to become the actuating force in a new educational 
movement, and that it was to influence the industrial and com- 
mercial growth of the nation profoundly, were generahties in 
which its advocates undoubtedly beheved without being able to 
conceive of the details of their operation. The rapidity with 
which these institutions have sprung into commanding positions, 
have overcome prejudiced opposition, and have won public 
confidence and respect must have been beyond the compre- 
hension of these men, for never in the previous annals of educa- 
tion has anything of equal or similar character or extent been 
recorded. 

But now, after the passing of little more than a generation, he 
who would chronicle the manner and extent to which these land- 
grant colleges have developed in respect of the single department 
of engineering education finds himself — so extensive is the sub- 
ject — dealing with the leading facts of the times in regard to edu- 
cation, applied science, and industrial and commercial progress. 

The impulses set in motion by the passage of the Morrill Act 
have developed, in a remarkably short time, a new education; 
have achieved great popularity and influence; have appealed to 
the democracy; and have proved its inestimable value to the 
industries. As is well known, the act, while remarkably broad 
in its scope, specifically emphasizes two principal lines of educa- 
tional effort, viz., in "agriculture and the mechanic arts," and, 

114 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 115 

properly, these colleges have from the beginning in accordance 
therewith expended their energies mainly in these two industrial 
fields. 

My duty at this time is to set forth what has been accom- 
pHshed by the land-grant colleges in the sphere of mechanic arts. 
In this discussion I shall broadly include all of those institutions 
receiving state or federal support, in which engineering is taught, 
since with few exceptions the state universities and colleges en- 
gaged in engineering instruction are also beneficiaries of the 
Morrill Act. 

It is worthy of note that, in nearly every instance, the de- 
mands upon these colleges for instruction in "mechanic arts," 
especially in the earlier days, have greatly exceeded those for 
"agriculture." The aggregate enrolment of students of colle- 
giate grade in engineering courses in these institutions has been 
many times greater than in courses in agriculture. Frequently 
the representatives of agriculture have shown impatience at 
these conditions, ascribing the inequality of attendance in these 
departments to unfair discrimination on the part of the college 
management. The real causes, however, seem to lie elsewhere. 
Instruction in engineering was earher and better organized as 
regards pedagogical form; the industries included under me- 
chanic arts have had a better appreciation of the value of tech- 
nical training; there has been and is a tendency among young 
people to regard agriculture unfavorably as compared with other 
pursuits; and, finally, the recent extraordinary developments 
in manufacturing, mining, and transportation have created a 
great demand for men trained in the mechanic arts, which no 
inducements in the field of agriculture could match. The rapid 
development of engineering education, therefore, has obeyed 
the influence of distinct public needs and demands to meet which 
has given college authorities no end of difficulty and which, 
under these conditions, they certainly have had neither power 
nor desire to stimulate. 



Ii6 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

The conditions which have been less favorable to agricultural 
education are now, happily, disappearing and there can be no 
doubt that the agricultural courses in the land-grant colleges are 
soon to become quite as popular, attractive, and effective as 
those in engineering; a situation which I am sure will be wel- 
comed by everyone who desires to see these colleges fulfilling 
their original purpose to the highest possible degree. 

In endeavoring to trace the development and present status 
of these engineering schools, one soon is impressed with the fact 
that he is dealing with practically the whole history of engineer- 
ing instruction in America, and, next, he realizes that this record 
constitutes an important part of the world's progress in this field. 
In fact in the essential development of engineering education the 
land-grant colleges, in their various forms of organization, have 
always been foremost and in the aggregate are today the prin- 
cipal exponents of this phase of education. 

Systematic instruction in engineering science is a recent 
thing; it is a constituent part of the remarkable development 
of industrial and technological training which is recognized as 
the principal educational event of the last half-century. It is 
true that some isolated and vague experiments in this field were 
undertaken nearly a hundred years ago, but an estimate of the 
scope and value of these efforts may be had by considering how 
imperfect was the existing knowledge of pure science until well 
into the nineteenth century, while the applications of these 
sciences to the arts and industries were scarcely recognized, much 
less organized into any pedagogical system, until very recently. 
With two or three exceptions^ there was in America no organized 
attempt at engineering instruction prior to the Civil War. Con- 
temporaneous with, or following, this period came three epoch- 
making events, each of which was in itself of great importance but 
which, in conjunction, have wrought an extraordinary national 

' Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824; the Lawrence Scien- 
tific School, in 1846; the Shefl&eld Scientific School, in 1847. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 117 

influence upon education and industry. These events were: 
the estabhshment of the land-grant colleges; the great wave of 
scientific discovery and invention; and the remarkable com- 
mercial and industrial development of the country. Under 
these conditions the growth of engineering schools has been 
little less than remarkable. 

In claiming thus for the land-grant colleges a considerable 
degree of prestige on account of the development of engineering 
education, I am not unmindful of the great contributions to 
progress in this field made by other institutions. For this all 
due credit should be given. Nevertheless, if one could con- 
ceive of the annihilation of what has been done and is being 
done in the land-grant colleges in engineering science, the loss 
would involve, I am sure, a very large part of the present pos- 
sessions of engineering education in America, if not of the entire 
world. 

That this should be so is, after all, quite natural. If any- 
thing less had been achieved upon this special foundation and in 
the stimulating industrial atmosphere of America, our institu- 
tions would be blameworthy indeed. The conditions have 
been unusually favorable and, in general, they have been uti- 
lized with marked success. 

This development has been on characteristic and, in some 
respects, unique lines. Because these institutions were new 
foundations — for the most part — they were free to build new 
structures untrammeled by conventionalities and free from use- 
less imitations. Just as our engineers are notable for their 
initiative, adaptability, and resourcefulness, so our engineering 
schools have met and solved problems on the ground, in a practi- 
cal way. Without ignoring what was of value in previously 
existing systems, they have been free to strike out in new lines. 
Wisely, they have from the first endeavored to adapt their meth- 
ods and scope of instruction to the distinct needs and conditions 
of our industries. This poHcy has evoked much sharp criticism 



ii8 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

as to its real educational value, but the schools have gone steadily 
on, creating a new education with a new spirit; winning the 
confidence of the commercial world; and becoming the chief 
bulwark against the growing prejudice against "the college 
graduate." Recognizing that engineering is an intensely practi- 
cal profession, they have sought to impart a training which 
should develop in their students the power to do things effect- 
ively, in the belief that this is the modern criterion of education. 
To these estabhshed characteristics of originality, adaptabiUty, 
thoroughness, and efficiency, our engineering schools undoubt- 
edly owe their high standing, popularity, and the confidence of 
the professional and technical world. 

Since these institutions by reason of their origin and functions 
form a class by themselves, it is important to classify and enu- 
merate their features of organization, method, and curriculum, 
which constitute the present basis of engineering education in 
this country. 

The institutions are for the most part of collegiate grade, 
receiving students from the secondary schools and administering 
a full four-years' course upon the completion of which a variety 
of degrees of the bachelor's rank are conferred. With few 
exceptions, the land-grant colleges are coeducational and women 
students are occasionally found in the engineering courses. A 
few have been known to graduate, but of their subsequent 
careers the engineering chronicles are significantly silent. 

Measured by the conventional standards established by 
schools of liberal arts, the requirements for entrance are not 
high, varying in different parts of the country from six to sixteen 
high-school units. In many instances these requirements are 
higher than for the agricultural school in the same institution. 
As a rule, in any given part of the country admission to the 
engineering school is practically on the same basis as to the 
college of liberal arts, although usually not identical. The 
authorities are agreed, for the most part, that in state institutions 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 119 

it is unwise to require preparation which the average public 
schools of the community cannot supply. Nor is it the practice 
to include Greek or Latin in these requirements. Weight is 
laid chiefly upon English, mathematics, and the sciences, as 
being directly necessary to the work of the engineering courses. 
In other matters, the engineering schools have not been bound 
by the practices of others, but in their entrance requirements 
have given consideration to the educational opportunities and 
needs of the industrial classes. On the other hand, they recog- 
nize elements of training and preparation which are quite ignored 
in the purely academic requirements for colleges of Uberal arts. 
It may be claimed, consistently, that entrance requirements to 
engineering schools should differ from but not be of lower grade 
than those of colleges of liberal arts. Everyone knows that 
book knowledge alone does not give power and efficiency, and 
it would seem that in standardizing entrance requirements to 
engineering colleges some weight should be given to the maturity 
and experience of the applicant. In short, our engineering 
schools are coming to recognize that a valuable part of the prep- 
aration for an engineering course may be obtained in the field, 
shop, or office, and cannot be measured in high-school units 
alone. 

The curriculum of our engineering schools is characterized 
by the weight given to mathematical, scientific, and technical 
subjects in contradistinction to the classics and humanities, 
although in all of these there is an evident purpose to retain in 
the course of study as much as possible of the cultural elements. 
English, the modern languages, history, and economics are for 
this reason given much weight. The physical and chemical 
sciences, mathematics, shop practice, and drawing are the 
fundamentals of engineering education, and following these in 
sequence come the subjects of mechanics, machine design, 
thermo-dynamics, hydraulics, and the various speciahzations 
pertaining to the different branches of engineering practice. 



I20 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

The student has httle choice of subjects in any given course, 
for the elective system is unsuited to the mastery of a logical 
sequence of facts and principles. The curricula of engineering 
courses are, therefore, almost exclusively prescribed. There is, 
moreover, a characteristic blending of the theoretical and prac- 
tical. A knowledge of the hypotheses and theories of pure 
science is fundamental to the training of an engineer, but they 
are valueless to him unless their applications are traced. Natur- 
ally the laboratory has a large place in this scheme of instruction. 
It is necessary that the student have contact with and an intimate 
knowledge of the machines and materials with which he is later 
to deal. The laboratory courses and equipment are, therefore, 
striking characteristics of our engineering schools. In chemistry, 
physics, electricity, steam engineering, shop practice, material 
testing, hydraulics, and drawing each student must be supplied 
with a work place and equipment for the study of the actual 
phenomenon or object under consideration. The shops and 
laboratories of a modern engineering college have all of the 
aspects of a commercial estabhshment, and contain types of the 
real machines and materials of commerce. These methods 
and equipments are responsible for the costliness of engineering 
education in marked contrast to courses in liberal arts. 

From the nature of the subjects taught, the standard of schol- 
arship in our engineering schools is high. The predominance of 
mathematical subjects; the accuracy of observation and state- 
ment required; the analytical character of much of the work 
render it impossible for a dull man to succeed. These schools 
are not training mechanics or skilled workmen. Manual dex- 
terity is important and a knowledge of practical operations is 
essential to the engineer, but his power lies in his capacity to 
organize and utiHze forces and materials, and his training is 
intellectual rather than manual. The actual expenditure of 
mental effort required of the engineering student is, I believe, 
quite exceptional, for the successive steps of advancement to 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 12 1 

which he must attain are fixed and absolute; they involve the 
exercise of opinion and criticism but slightly; they require 
rather a definite knowledge of facts and their application which 
permits of no error or half -knowledge. High standards must be 
maintained, for the graduate must, ultimately, sustain the most 
exacting tests in practical experience. Nothing would more 
speedily destroy the efficiency of engineering training than low 
standards of scholarship. 

The scope of engineering instruction is as broad as the coun- 
try itself. In all of the schools the general principles and fun- 
damentals are taught, but beyond this is a wide variety of devel- 
opment into special lines related to sectional or local interests. 
Civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering are the subjects 
most commonly presented, but several institutions offer courses 
in mining engineering, while sanitary, municipal, and chemical 
engineering and architecture all have honorable place in the 
list. Certain institutions offer instruction also in engineering 
principles as specially appHed to sugar-making, irrigation, 
forestry; marine engineering is also taught in one or two schools, 
and there is an interesting and increasing development of 
engineering instruction as applied to farm machinery and opera- 
tions — which is perhaps best designated as farm mechanics. 

The extent of the courses of instruction in engineering is, in 
point of time, usually four years, of which the first two are spent 
upon the fundamental and general subjects, and the last two 
upon those which are special and technical. Among other 
usual requirements for graduation is the completion of an origi- 
nal study or investigation, the results of which are presented in 
a "thesis." The graduate receives in most cases the degree of 
"Bachelor of Science," which is frequently further qualified with 
reference to the particular line of study pursued. A few institu- 
tions give professional degrees, such as "Electrical Engineer," 
"Civil Engineer," etc., for the completion of undergraduate 
courses; the larger and better equipped colleges also administer 



122 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

graduate courses, for which advanced degrees are granted. 
In a few instances, the honorary degree of "Doctor of Engineer- 
ing" has been given. 

By no means a minor phase of the work of these institutions 
is that of research and investigation. Countless problems pre- 
sent themselves in connection with every industry, in regard to 
the improvement of methods, designing of apparatus, use of 
materials, fixing of standards, etc., and for information on these 
matters the pubUc applies with confidence to the engineering 
schools. Scientific and technical literature teems with articles 
from teachers and students of engineering, and many of the 
contributions to knowledge from this source are of national, or, 
indeed, world-wide fame. 

Having thus briefly outHned the present methods and work 
of the engineering schools, I would broadly characterize their 
distinguishing features to be : First, an adaptation of instruction 
in theory and practice into a course of training which is at once 
of high educational value, and of special application to practical 
affairs; and, second, the high efficiency in turning out a product 
which commends itself to practical men, and which is ready for 
immediate participation in the work of the world. 

WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED 

The immediate products of these schools are thousands of 
young men trained in accurate, scientific methods of thought and 
study; skilled in the appHcation of scientific principles to prac- 
tical affairs; and grounded in the fundamental principles of 
engineering work. That there exists a great demand for young 
men of this type in all kinds of manufacturing and productional 
enterprises immediately makes clear that to the individual this 
kind of education is profitable because of the good market for 
his accomplishments, and not only is the immediate opportunity 
for the young graduate exceptionally good but the way is open 
to a career of great responsibility, influence, and remuneration. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 123 

On the other hand, the value of these trained forces to the 
industrial and commercial interests of the country cannot be 
overestimated. There could be no continuous development or 
progress without these trained men and, though the graduates 
of these schools are still young, their influence upon methods, 
practice, and operation is already an important factor in our 
country's development. 

A further result of this breeding of trained engineers is to 
educate the pubUc to a better appreciation of the value of the 
application of scientific study and methods to all business and 
industrial operations. The development of this understanding 
is altogether significant. A few years since, any young man 
who based an application for a business position on the fact that 
he was a college graduate would probably have been treated 
with contumely. Now all of this has been changed, and it is 
the ordinary experience of engineering schools that all of the 
members of their graduating classes are sought for professional 
positions before they have received their diplomas. This broader 
appreciation of the value of trained men and of the application 
of scientific methods means true progress in our industrial and 
commercial development. It means better public utilities; 
higher factors of safety and health; and cleaner, saner, and 
safer living for the whole people. 

StiU further, and quite aside from the professional and techni- 
cal influence of the graduates of these schools, I regard it as not 
presumptuous to claim for them a citizenship of high quality. 
I claim that no other training is likely to breed so genuine a 
contempt for shams and hatred of dishonesty as the engineering 
training, and that no other class of men are so likely to stand for 
right principles in the administration of public offices as well as 
for private honor and honesty. Of course there will be excep- 
tions to this rule, but if there is anything in dealing with the 
immutable laws of nature; anything in the engineer's concep- 
tion of accuracy hkely to develop respect for law and sincerity 



124 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

of purpose, then the training which the engineer receives cannot 
but have its corresponding effect upon character. 

Finally, among other results of the work of engineering 
schools, we may not ignore the actual contribution to technical 
and scientific knowledge made through investigations and re- 
searches carried on in the laboratories of their institutions. 
These investigations relate to every possible phase of the pro- 
duction and utilization of power, the performance of machines, 
and the characterization of the physical properties of materials 
of construction. To illustrate more fully what is meant by this 
statement, I may point out that a generation ago it was the 
exception that any machine was constructed or purchased on a 
specification as to its efficiency of performance, or for any ma- 
terial of construction to be supplied on a specification of quaUties. 
Now the effort is to base all transactions upon a specification of 
quality or efficiency based upon accurate scientific tests. For 
instance, no one now buys a steam boiler except on specification 
of its evaporative efficiency, or steel, except upon specification 
of its strength, or paint, or coal, or cement, except upon certain 
guarantees of quality, and even the physical characteristics and 
quahties of timber are now being determined and fixed in engi- 
neering laboratories as a possible basis for future use in this way. 
The work of determining these standards, of devising methods 
of testing, of accumulating the vast data of reference, and of 
actually carrying on these tests and determinations has been 
the contribution of our engineering laboratories. How vast 
this is and to what an extent it controls and improves engineering 
practice can be imagined, but scarcely comprehended. In the 
great engineering societies, engaged in promoting and fixing 
engineering standards, the teachers and graduates of engineering 
colleges are prominent and, through these channels, exercise 
their influence on professional practice. Another important 
contribution from the teachers of engineering has been the 
development and organization of the material of instruction. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 125 

A generation since, scarcely anything had been done toward 
systematizing engineering instruction, but during this time 
curricula have been perfected, texts written, laboratory experi- 
ments devised, and the entire plan of teaching brought to a high 
degree of efficiency. 

These facts indicate that the work of the engineering schools 
of the land-grant colleges has been quite as extensive, valuable, 
and useful in its way as has ever been accompHshed in any 
educational field in a like time. Indeed, in view of their rapid 
development and the extraordinary contemporary interest in 
technical affairs, probably no other schools have exerted so 
great an influence in so short a time. 

WHAT IS TO BE THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR 
ENGINEERING SCHOOLS ? 

Up to this time, engineering instruction as an organized force 
of education has been occupied with laying foundations; with 
systematizing and developing its teaching; with preparing texts 
and lectures; and with the adaptation into teachable form of an 
enormous mass of material. It has been burdened with the 
demands for practical men. It has been called upon to solve 
problems; to supply men; and to meet the exacting demands 
of an unparalleled commercial and material development. 
Much of this work has been, of necessity, of an elementary 
character because of the absence of any other agency to perform 
it. The requirements growing out of these conditions are now 
being fairly well met in the various engineering colleges. We 
shall probably next see a differentiation of this instructional 
work by which the elements of engineering and industrial train- 
ing will be administered in industrial, trade, and manual-training 
schools. In this way, the opportunities for this kind of training 
will be greatly multiplied and made available to far greater num- 
bers of students than at present, and the general effect of this 
upon the public will be vastly beneficial. The engineering schools 



126 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

will then be free to devote their resources to instruction and re- 
search in the higher branches of technology. 

A logical step in this direction will be the establishment of 
bureaus or laboratories devoted entirely to investigations of 
engineering problems and the fixing of standards. I beUeve we 
shall come in this way to the engineering experiment station, the 
analogue of what has now become so important an adjunct of 
agricultural instruction, namely, the agricultural experiment 
station. One state^ has already established such a research 
station with generous financial support. There can be no logi- 
cal argument advanced for the agricultural experiment station 
which will not apply with equal force to the engineering sta- 
tion, be it on account of the important interests involved, the 
problems inviting solution, or the industrial value of such an 
institution. 

In conclusion, one cannot contemplate the developments of 
these institutions without a feeling of pride in their achievements 
and a conviction that the phase of education which they typify 
is destined to become more and more important in America. 
The essential basis and foundation of a nation's welfare is to be 
found in its industrial conditions. It is true that those abstract 
qualities which contribute to national greatness and patriotic 
citizenship are the offspring of ideals rather than of material 
things, but these can never come to their fullest fruitage with- 
out that substantial foundation afforded by rational and well- 
balanced industrial forces. The highest development of national 
ideas is like a flower whose beauty is unfolded in a clear atmos- 
phere, while its roots find anchorage and nourishment in the 
fertile stratum of an intelligent industrial democracy. True 
industrial progress consists in utilizing with ever-increasing 
economy and accuracy natural forces and materials, in more 
scientific methods of operation and management, in securing 

I The University of Illinois established an engineering experimental station 
in 1903. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 127 

better conditions of life for industrial workers, in furnishing 
products of better quality at lower cost, and in narrowing the gap 
between the employer and the employee. Education alone can 
accomplish these things, but it must be an education which 
reaches the industrial classes and appHes to industrial condi- 
tions, and this is the true aim and spirit of our land-grant colleges. 



THE AUTHORITY OF SCIENCE 



WHITMAN H. JORDAN 



As a prologue to the subject that I have assigned myself, 
permit me to present to the officers and students of the institu- 
tion whose guests we are, my greetings and fehcitations. This is, 
indeed, an occasion for well-deserved congratulation and praise. 
We are assembled within the borders of an institution that for 
fifty years has rendered distinguished service in a new field of 
education, and there are some features of this service which 
merit generous and grateful recognition. 

To the trustees and faculty of this College, I would say that 
it is a notable achievement to have taken a leading part in build- 
ing new avenues along which knowledge has approached more 
closely to human needs, especially when to do this in the face of 
imbelief or of dogmatic opposition has required on your part a 
tenacious faith and an abiding courage. At the same time you 
and your predecessors have manifested a spirit of rational and 
safe conservatism. While your College has departed widely 
from the curricula of the older institutions, it has held fast to the 
great truth, the soundness of which can never be successfully 
assailed, that the only way to upUft any industry is to develop 
among those who are engaged in it not only technical knowledge 
and skill, but intellectual and moral force. To this end the 
vagaries and educational poverty of extreme speciaHzation have 
not been allowed to seize upon your courses of study. Evidently 
you have not beheved that "intensive knowledge" of one subject 
compensates for "extensive ignorance" of everything else. It is 
clear that you have not been willing wholly to subordinate to his 
vocational skill a man's intellectual and social well-being. This 

128 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 129 

much of the faith and practice of the fathers has remained with 
you. May you never lose it ! 

I suspect that your wise conservatism has been due partly to 
the fact that you have had among your number great leaders and 
teachers who have been both expounders of truth and centers of 
inspiration. Two of these I came to know a quarter of a century 
ago, one of whom, ripe in years and full of honor, has entered 
into his rest. The other with unabated zeal for truth and 
undiminished loyalty to your interests is still your beloved associ- 
ate. Evidence of the influence of these men and of the policy 
that they helped to sustain is seen in the remarkable number of 
the sons of this College who, in all parts of the United States, 
are occupying positions of honor in the field of agricultural 
science as teachers and investigators. 

I congratulate you on the record of fifty years. As a fitting 
commemoration of the spirit and influence of your honored 
institution and as pointing to the true philosophy of all education, 
I would that in passing we might pause to erect a wayside altar 
and, in characters so bold that he who runs may read, leave on 
it this inscription: What man is determines what man achieves. 

The suggestive title of a recent book written by a distin- 
guished graduate of this College is The Outlook to Nature. 
This volume, that fifty years ago would not have been well under- 
stood, is symptomatic. It worthily expresses a trend of thought 
in education and in practical affairs that is one of the most note- 
worthy features of the present time. Man is just now very busy 
discovering himself and his relations to the physical world. He 
is studying and mastering his environment as never before. 
The rise of institutions of investigation, the crowded state of 
university and college courses in the sciences and their applica- 
tions, university-extension courses along popular scientific lines, 
the wide attention given to nature-study, the many assemblages 
of farmers for the consideration of subjects semi-scientific in 
their character, and indeed the knowledge appHed to our whole 



130 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

economic progress, are convincing evidences that the outlook 
to Nature's methods is earnest and widespread. 

The serious side of this world-wide movement is the conviction 
that science is a trustworthy guide in directing our activities. 
In all ages man has been prone to seek the guidance of authority. 
He Hstened in faith to the prophets, sought the counsel of the 
ancient oracles, accepted the dogmas of the church as arbitrating 
aU truth, both temporal and spiritual, and has been the dupe of 
the necromancer and the faker. But now we have turned to 
science and, excepting in things spiritual, it utters the final word. 
To be sure there are still those who scoff at the scientific man as 
unworthy of confidence, sometimes with good reason, but on the 
other hand, many trust him over much and behave toward his 
utterances as though they are infallible. Comparatively few 
use knowledge in a discriminating way ; indeed few are qualified 
to do so, for in this, as in many other weighty matters, the masses 
walk by faith and not by sight. If, then, science is the oracle 
of today, what a grave responsibility attends its teachings ! He 
who assumes to interpret Nature must reckon not only with 
truth but with his fellow-man whose welfare is to be safeguarded. 

This is more than a fancied obUgation. Science has come to 
be closely concerned with the large affairs of human Hfe and 
activity. It lays its compelling hands upon Nature's great forces, 
directs agriculture and the industries, designs machinery, builds 
bridges, protects health and prolongs life, feeds the intellect, 
is a theme for literature, and essays to invade the great mysteries 
of religion and the future life. Its conclusions guide our voca- 
tions, are the dicta of the classroom, and are proclaimed as truth 
from the platform and pulpit. 

How intimately, too, has science laid hold upon our individual 
lives ! It has greatly increased our comforts and intensified our 
pleasures. Whether we travel abroad or abide at home, we are 
the subjects of its beneficence. Indeed, it has also entered into 
our anxieties concerning our most serious relations. When we 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 131 

survey our morning meal, we consider in terms of chemistry 
whether the repast is nutritively sufficient and what our chances 
are in a physiological contest with its germs and germicides. 
A glass of water on the railroad train is taken with proper scien- 
tific reservations as to our future prospects in the hands of the 
doctor and the nurse. The wisdom of the crucible and the 
microscope have even been invoked in the domain of our 
religious thought, sometimes to assure us concerning the verities 
of the Christian religion and sometimes to assuage our fears as 
to the certainties of divine retribution. 

But what is science and from whence comes its authority? 
On what grounds may it rationally appeal to our confidence? 
Those of us who accept its verdicts as a part of our intellectual 
equipment, to whose activities truth is a blessing and error a 
disaster, whose personal and material well-being may be jeopar- 
dized by unsound conclusions, have a right to ask these questions 
and ask them insistently. I crave your indulgence while I 
attempt to answer them. 

Concise definitions of science are, ''knowledge amassed, 
severely tested, co-ordinated and systematized, specially regard- 
ing those wide generalizations called the laws of nature." Or, 
what is simpler, "knowledge gained and verified by exact obser- 
vation and correct thinking." The specifications, "knowledge 
severely tested," and "knowledge gained and verified by exact 
observation and correct thinking," clearly indicate, not only 
what science is, but what it is not. It is not opinion, it is not 
platform speculation, however eloquent, it is not truth diluted 
or distorted by much repetition, it is not magazine exploitations 
of the new and wonderful in a way that fires the imagination but 
deceives the understanding, it is not theories partially supported 
by data, it is not dangerous conclusions vitiated by confessed 
errors or propped up on all sides by "ifs" and "provided," it is 
not a "report of progress" that shows little more than what the 
investigator hopes some time to prove and will take up again 



132 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

when he has opportunity — true science is none of these things. 
Some of them may be steps in its direction, but they do not con- 
stitute "severely tested" or "verified" knowledge. So obvious 
a truth would scarcely need stating, were it not for the fact that 
our scientific hterature is submerged with increasing records of 
imcomplete and inconclusive observations. It is a sobering 
thought that only a minor proportion of the mass of 
generaUzations that are published endures severe scrutiny 
and becomes permanently incorporated into the body of 
science. 

Scientific generahzations at their best are far from infallible. 
Every spot of truth is so surrounded by unpenetrated, and there- 
fore unknown, regions, that many conclusions are properly held 
to be tentative. Even some deductions, the result of researches 
apparently most exhaustive, that are stated without reservation 
or modification, are abandoned as larger knowledge is gained. 
A most striking example of this is furnished by the investigations 
as to the sources of nitrogen to the plant. In 1857-58, Lawes, 
Gilbert, and Pugh carried on at Rothamstead, England, what has 
been pointed to many times as a classical research on the ques- 
tion of the use by plants of the free nitrogen of the air. The 
inquiry was most severe. All available knowledge was brought to 
bear on it, and the conclusion was reached that uncombined at- 
mospheric nitrogen is not available plant food. This verdict is 
now reversed by later evidence of the soundest and most incontro- 
vertible kind. In 1857 knowledge of the biological activities of 
the soil was very meager. The Rothamstead investigators worked 
with sterilized earth, not realizing that they were thus destroying 
the germ life which, as we now know, somehow functions in 
aiding the legumes to utihze atmospheric nitrogen. While the 
plants did not acquire free nitrogen under the conditions in- 
volved in the investigation, these conditions were made greatly 
unlike those prevailing in nature. Science will always be sub- 
ject to such reversals. Its progress has been, and always will be, 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 133 

a series of advances and retrogressions, with the outposts of 
knowledge steadily advancing. All this but emphasizes the 
supreme importance of organizing inquiry on a thoroughgoing 
basis, coupled with a judicious conservatism in the formulation 
of conclusions. 

If, then, what we call science is a mixture of truth and error, 
of the enduring and the transient, by what standards shall we 
measure its reliability ? You will agree with me, I am sure, 
when I state that wise critics estimate the value of scientific 
deductions by their authorship. When new conclusions are 
brought to our attention our first inquiry is for the name of the 
author, and three factors enter into our judgment of him and 
consequently of his work. These factors are, (i) his personal 
equipment for investigation, (2) his motives or point of view, 
and (3) his environment. 

The primary consideration is the man. It is a fundamental 
fact which should receive greater emphasis, that what is presented 
to us for truth takes form in the human mind and the quality of 
what we are asked to believe bears a close relation to the develop- 
ment and equipment of the producing intellect. Unripe minds 
will inevitably produce unripe science, and while intellectual 
conquests are won of which we are proud and that bear ripened 
fruit, much so-called science is being forced upon our attention 
today that is as unripe and unassimilable as the proverbial green 
persimmon. 

The man-side of research is emphasized at this time because, 
in my judgment, it is not sufficiently considered in our develop- 
ment and support of the work of inquiry. This development 
must begin with the preparation of men properly fitted to con- 
duct research that is worthy of the name, and until this is accom- 
plished other means, such as money, buildings, and apparatus, 
are inefficiently and wastefuUy applied. Material equipment 
is subsidiary to the intellectual. The normal and only success- 
ful order of procedure in this, as in every other effort, is first an 



134 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

efl&cient instrument and then the means for utilizing it. Any 
other sequence is irrational and unsafe. 

Again, an investigator in science should be judged by his con- 
trolling motives or point of view. It has been said, with what 
accuracy I do not know and shall not inquire, that an EngUsh 
university once wrote over its portals: "No useful knowledge 
taught here." One of our own scientists is absurdly re- 
ported to have expressed a regret that chemistry was ever put 
to money-making uses. Those of us who are devotees of applied 
science repel such sentiments and, having right on our side, 
declare with great fervor that we will have nothing to do with 
knowledge that cannot be brought into the service of humanity. 
We are glad that learning has escaped from the monastery into 
a throbbing, busy world. We have no sympathy, either, with 
the modern monastic spirit sometimes manifested by those who 
claim to be working in the field of what is designated as pure 
science and affect contempt for the utilitari an. 

But, on the other hand, it is time for us to give practical 
recognition to the fact that great victories never have been won 
in science, and never will be, when knowledge is sought merely 
that it may be weighed in the balance as bullion. The investi- 
gator whose foremost thought is financial advantage, either to 
himself or to others, has an inferior point of view and is devoid 
of the highest inspirations. I know that some good people of 
an ultra-practical frame of mind take exception to the statement 
that the investigator should "seek truth for truth's sake," and de- 
clare that the controlhng point of view should be that of utility. 
Granting that knowledge reaches its best estate when it serves hu- 
man needs, it is still to be said that inquiry is not on safe ground 
unless the dominant impulse is to know the truth. The true 
scientific mind is the truth-loving, truth-seeking mind. He who 
possesses it is dominated by a desire for knowledge that leads 
him to sacrifice, if necessary, opportunities for power, distinction, 
wealth, or pleasure. In these days of money-making invention, 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 135 

rather than of a desire for larger intellectual vision, when the 
imaginations of ambitious men are dazzled by the opportunities 
for financial gain, we need a renaissance of the spirit which in- 
spired and upheld the fathers of science in the classic researches 
that have laid the foundations of modern knowledge. Until 
this comes in a greater measure than we now have it, we may 
not reasonably hope for the solution of many of the great un- 
solved problems of agriculture. 

In the third place, research efforts take color and value from 
the environment in which they are carried on. No investigator 
is likely to be immune to the influences that surround him, and 
there are modifying conditions, the presence of which must be 
regarded as essential to the highest type of inquiry. If, as is 
obviously true, science is an individual product, the initiative 
and Uberty of the individual should be safeguarded. The re- 
search worker must be allowed, within reasonable limits, to 
follow his inspirations and enthusiasms in his own way. Inves- 
tigation that is too highly organized into a mechanical system, 
so that duties are assigned as in the routine of an administrative 
department, is infertile. It is a station worker's inspirations 
rather than his director's commands that are fruitful. Science 
that is worth anything will never be ground out by machinery, 
however costly and elaborate the mechanism may be. Neither 
should the investigating mind be subject to the coercion of public 
sentiment or the demands of expediency. Its operation should 
be carefully guarded in an atmosphere of quiet and unbiased 
reflection. This should also be an atmosphere of deliberation and 
not of haste. New knowledge that is reliable is reached with ex- 
ceeding slowness for it is wrought out only by immense labor and 
with untiring patience. Perhaps what I have said concerning the 
authority of science may be summarized and made more specific 
by the statement that the knowledge most trustworthy is that 
which proceeds from the domain of conservative scholarship — 
such scholarship, if you please, as is bred in the atmosphere of 



136 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

our best colleges and universities. Despite the dangers from 
academic dogmatism, it is in such surroundings that we now 
generally find the most critical and impartial judgments and 
the most careful deliberation in the formulation of conclusions. 

The conditions essential to effective inquiry have been briefly 
outlined at this time in order that they may be compared with 
those under which agricultural research is undertaken in the 
United States. But before such a comparison is made, I would 
like to meet one thought that I suspect is already in your minds 
concerning what has been said. Doubtless your mental comment 
is that the specifications laid down are ideal and at present are 
unattainable by the institutions here represented. If this be 
true, then so much the worse for the prospects of scientific prog- 
ress among us. When the temperature necessary for the hatch- 
ing of eggs in an incubator is unattainable in a given instance, 
why, the eggs will not hatch. But I do not concede that there 
is anything extreme or impracticable in these specifications. 
They have existed, and they exist now, in some places and it is 
only where they are found that research is in its best estate. 

In considering the present status of agricultural inquiry in 
the United States, we are impressed first of all by the great 
magnitude of the effort that, according to the language of the 
laws authorizing it, is known under a variety of terms such as 
"scientific investigation and experiment," "original researches," 
"diffusion of useful information," and similar phraseology. 
In 1906 the experiment stations expended nearly two million 
dollars. Assuming that of the seven milHon dollars appropriated 
to the United States Department of Agriculture, 60 per cent, was 
assigned to those bureaus engaged in the work of inquiry and 
demonstration, we find that in 1 905-6^0 ver six millions of dollars 
was appUed by the federal and state governments to the pro- 
motion of agricultural science. This is outside the funds used 
by the land-grant colleges in the work of instruction. The 
number of persons now employed in the expenditure of this vast 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 137 

sum of money is not less than four thousand. Millions of copies 
of bulletins and reports are now issued annually by the experi- 
ment stations, and the mass of literature sent out by the federal 
department is something prodigious. Department and station 
men are found frequently on the platform at agricultural con- 
ventions and farmers' institutes, and their contributions to 
agricultural literature in the way of books and newspaper dis- 
cussion are extensive. History records no other instance of an 
organized attempt to aid agriculture or any other industry on a 
scale so magnificent in its proportions and so far-reaching in its 
results. 

But in all candor it must be confessed that, whatever may 
have been the phraseology of law or of common speech in char- 
acterizing this movement, it has been mainly an effort, not of 
research, but of the exploitation of existing knowledge. We have 
not reached far into the unknown, and although important new 
truths have been brought to light, our efforts at inquiry have 
neither produced results nor commanded the respect of the 
scientific world to an extent commensurate with the generous 
means applied. During the past twenty-five years we have been 
busy instead with much agricultural speaking and writing. The 
chemist has been called from his crucible, the botanist from his 
microscope, the editor from his desk, and the farmer from his 
plow, to aid in spreading the gospel of an agriculture based on 
exact knowledge into almost every hamlet in the land. The 
unknown, but greatly inadequate, facts and principles of science 
have been exhibited with kaleidoscopic effects and have been 
turned inside out and upside down in order to meet conditions 
almost numberless in their variety. 

Doubtless it may be argued in a way more or less convincing 
that the diffusion of existing knowledge was necessarily the first 
step in bringing the people in harmony with, and to the support 
of, the kind of educational and research work that is our goal. 
There is much to be said for this position, but we must not forget 



138 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

that the largest asset of the priests of agriculture is their igno- 
rance. Fifty years ago we began to import German science, 
and, with a due respect for a foreign product and because we 
didn't know any better, we accepted it all without modification 
or even adulteration as applicable to the agriculture of this new 
and rapidly developing nation. Some of us elder brethren 
remember with what confidence we advised the farmer as to 
rations for plants and animals, for had not the Herr Doctor 
Namenlos worked it all out and was he not authority? But 
since those days we have become one of the great powers and we 
now have a right to some things of our own, even our ignorance. 
We are seeing with greater distinctness every year that the 
more complex and more important problems of agriculture are 
still unsolved, and that because of this our utterances to the 
practical man are still lame and halting. Do you doubt this 
statement and ask what these problems are ? Who of us is able 
to stand on his feet and define fertility, or even demonstrate the 
relative value of its various factors? Do we not often quail 
before the simple and direct questions of the farmer when he 
seeks information as to the production of crops and sometimes 
return him answers bedecked with gHttering generalities ? We 
say much, and not too much, about the wonderful value of the 
legumes. Clover and alfalfa have been the most valuable asset 
of the institute speaker and yet we are in profound ignorance as 
to how much nitrogen they take from the atmosphere when they 
are grown under the ordinary conditions of farm practice. Once 
we had the German standard rations for farm animals and our 
ex-cathedra formulae were convenient and much admired. Now 
we have practically lost these standards in the misty mazes of 
new data and nutrition problems still harass our minds. Con- 
trol of results in the breeding of plants and animals is still an 
unsolved riddle. (This statement should be made, I suppose, 
with an apology to the mathematical formulae of the disciples 
of Mendel.) Tuberculosis in farm animals is an unconquered 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 139 

scourge. Do not say that there are no great agricultural prob- 
lems left for us to attack. They are both great and many, and 
their successful study demands investigation of wide scope and 
masterful ability. We should not feel that because agricultural 
science deals with things common and familiar its problems are 
easy and may be solved by correspondingly easy methods. AU 
that is required for progress in any other field of inquiry what- 
ever in the way of efficiency of organization, scientific acumen, 
and severity of method is required here. 

In repeating the assertion that we have failed to grapple with 
the large problems of agricultural science, as has been our privi- 
lege and opportunity, do not understand me as disparaging the 
results of your efforts. You and your predecessors have been 
engaged for the past thirty years in a noble enterprise which you 
have loyally sustained. It is a common remark from those who 
come in contact with this body for the first time that it is made 
up of men of unusually earnest endeavor, who are evidently 
seeking most conscientiously to do the work that they have in 
hand, and those who have frequented these meetings for many 
years know that such a comment is entirely just. Much has 
been accompHshed. It is generally conceded that no instance 
is on record where technical knowledge has been brought into 
such close and practical touch with the people as has been done 
for our agriculture during the past twenty-five years. The 
comprehensive organization of the effort and the sympathetic 
relation of the various agencies involved, from the university 
to the home reading-course, are worthy of our admiration. The 
uplift of agricultural thought and practice has been great and has 
abundantly justified the new democracy of education. I am 
convinced, nevertheless, that, as was inevitable imder new and 
imtried conditions, some serious mistakes have been made in our 
attempts at research. But just now we are assuredly on the 
verge of substantial gain in the purposes and methods of our 
work and it may not be amiss to glance briefly at some of the 



I40 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

conditions, not yet entirely removed, that are inimical to scientific 
efficiency and progress. 

The quaUty of work accomplished in agricultural science 
in the United States has been menaced, and still is, by the 
extraordinary growth of institutions for agricultural investigation. 
Comparatively few persons outside of those directly interested 
appreciate how remarkable this development has been. Up to 
1887 there had been estabhshed in the United States only seven- 
teen experiment stations, no one of which was receiving anything 
more than meager support. The passage, in 1887, of the Hatch 
Act, granting $15,000 to each state, or a total of upward of 
$600,000 for the maintenance of agricultural experiment stations, 
resulted in the prompt organization of twenty-nine more stations, 
making forty-six in all. This required the immediate employ- 
ment by the Hatch stations of nearly four hundred men, a 
large part of whom had not previously been engaged in the work 
of inquiry. The number of stations is now fifty-five, which 
employ nearly eight hundred persons and expend annually 
nearly $2,000,000. '''\^ll'iEi 

During this time the development of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has been even more remarkable. In 1888 
the congressional appropriation to this department was $1,019,- 
219; in 1900, $3,006,022, and in 1907, $7,175,690. From June 
30, 1897, to July I, 1906, the number of employees of this de- 
partment has increased from 2,043 to 6,242. It is approximately 
accurate to say that over 4,000 men employed by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture and the experiment stations are giving their 
time to the work of research and demonstration, in the support 
of which between six and seven miUion dollars are annually 
expended. This marvelous development along one line of 
effort has taken place within the past twenty years. 

Unquestionably the quahty, if not the integrity, of scientific 
conclusions, has been endangered by this unprecedented enlarge- 
ment of funds. In the first place, research efforts of a high type 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 141 

are not made to order. They are an evolution that is by no 
means rapid. We say, and with truth, that age alone brings to 
a college the atmosphere most congenial to educational results 
of the highest value, and institutions of research develop and 
ripen no less slowly. Moreover, a large body of real investiga- 
tors is not summoned in a day or in a year from among the mass 
of educated men. The real investigator must have what we 
speak of as initiative, fundamentally a natural quality that has 
been trained and developed in an atmosphere of scientific inquiry. 
Such men are not abundant. They are slowly gathered about 
any given center and their selection calls for the divining-rod 
rather than the dragnet. 

Again, investigators in certain fields of agricultural research 
should be something more than mere technicians in science. 
They should be ripened men who see relations broadly, men 
who know affairs as well as principles. To be sure, agricultural 
problems relate to the common things of everyday life, but this 
in no way lessens their depth and complexity or the severity 
and thoroughness of the methods necessary to correct 
conclusions. 

The difficulty, then, where endowments for research have in- 
creased by milHon-dollar steps, has been to secure a correspond- 
ing equipment of men with a genius for observation, who have 
ripened into usefulness, especially when we have so few institu- 
tions that are giving adequate training for scientific inquiry in 
agricultural directions. The fact is, funds appUed to agricultural 
research have at times been increased so fast and on such a 
tremendous scale, though never beyond the needs of agriculture, 
as to exceed the possibilities of a normal and sound scientific 
growth correspondingly rapid and extensive. It is my judg- 
ment, which you may estimate as a purely personal point of view 
if you like, that agriculture has no right to ask for larger sums of 
public money to be used in the study of its problems until there 
are available more men who are adequately equipped for the 



142 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

work of inquiry. In our enthusiasms we have proceeded, I am 
convinced, to create a condition that is out of balance. We 
should bring the situation into balance by giving more attention 
to the development of men. 

Another condition, more or less unfortunate, is that agri- 
cultural research work is largely dependent upon annual legis- 
lative appropriations, either national or state. The legislative 
mind, for most excellent reasons, is peculiarly sensitive to popu- 
lar sentiment. It also very generally holds the quid pro quo point 
of view. The query in legislative halls is quite naturally apt 
to be, not "What is truth ?" but "What is truth worth in com- 
mercial units?" A closely related fact is that the agricultural 
public is not always patient or discriminating. Only investi- 
gators themselves understand the length of time and the per- 
sistent effort necessary to the formulation of sound conclusions, 
and because a constituency that has no adequate conception of 
what research involves complains to its representatives in the 
legislature that the appropriations for agricultural investigation 
are not producing equivalent values, the investigator is placed 
in a position of defending himself before a jury that does not 
understand him. The condition of expectancy that prevails 
on the part of the public that it must have results of immediate 
value to practice, and on the part of various institutions that they 
must have public support, has been an element most dangerous 
to the''quality and integrity of our work. 

As among the remaining factors related to agricultural in- 
vestigation in the United States, permit me to refer briefly to 
the much discussed adjustment of teaching and investigation in 
its bearing upon the efficiency of our experiment stations. There 
is an unquestioned advantage to an experiment station, we all 
admit, in locating it in a college or university environment, 
provided the relations estabUshed are of the right sort. The 
college atmosphere is essentially speculative and is conducive to 
reflection and inquiry, or should be, and in a community of 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 143 

teachers and students we generally find a desirable intellectual 
and social stimulus. 

But the record of the past twenty-five years does not justify 
us in expecting a fruitful research effort when teaching of the 
kind and amount that must be done in most of our land-grant 
colleges is a part of the duty of members of a station staff. It is 
conceivable that giving a few lectures on advanced subjects 
might be a distinct advantage to a research worker, but this can- 
not reasonably be claimed for routine instruction in fundamental 
subjects. Observation shows that classroom work of this 
character will inevitably claim the first place in the use of the 
teacher's time and energy. It is useless to ignore the plain re- 
sults of experience. The fact that this combination of duties 
seems for the most part to have been unavoidable in our experi- 
ment station organization may excuse the situation but does not 
nuUify its effects. 

It is of little avail, however, to dwell on the past, excepting 
as we glean the wisdom of experience. Our problems are with 
the future. As I see it, the further development of agricultural 
research in the United States hes primarily with the colleges and 
universities in the preparation of men and, secondarily, with the 
extent and conditions of the endowment of such research. Con- 
cerning this secondary factor, Httle will be said at this time 
beyond the remark that it will be fortunate when our research 
efforts shall be farther removed from the disturbing influences 
of an indiscriminating public sentiment and the uncertainties of 
legislation. We have no assurance that either education or 
research will develop normally or symmetrically if the purposes 
and methods of the classroom and laboratory are to be standard- 
ized by a public conception of what is their immediate vocational 
or commercial value. 

The present fundamental need, however, is for more young 
men endowed with a love of learning, of scholarly habit, and 
with integrity of mind and heart, whose ambition is not for 



144 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

notoriety but for the conquest of truth, and who, with more 
thought for service than for salary, are anxious to aid in laying 
broad and deep the foundations of human thought and activity. 
For this reason, in the progress of agricultural knowledge, I 
place the influence of the teaching institutions as the primary 
factor, because, when there exists a body of men really possessed 
by the research impulse and with adequate training, inquiry 
will not wait on legislative authority and support, but will proceed 
even under adverse circumstances. Whether the land-grant 
colleges are to train such men sufficient in numbers and abiUty 
to meet the demand is yet to be determined. So far these institu- 
tions have appealed for public support, chiefly on the ground 
of educating farmers, and have pointed to farmer graduates 
and crowded short winter courses as a sure way of convincing 
the popular mind that public funds are successfully applied to 
the supposedly chiefest aim of agricultural education and are 
not being exhausted in the labyrinths of learning characterized 
as useless. 

It is a serious question whether we are right in our educational 
plans when we place almost the entire emphasis upon the 
commercial or business side of agriculture and the industries, 
or whether in doing this we are promoting the highest utiUty 
of agricultural and industrial education. Is it not now 
the privilege and duty of at least some of the colleges and 
universities here represented more fully to nourish and 
develop the spirit of inquiry? Should you not deliberately 
set about recognizing and encouraging scientific initiative 
among your students and organizing courses of instruction 
that shall give a substantial preparation for the work of 
investigation ? 

A New England college president, having in mind, doubtless, 
the older institutions of learning, once expressed the half -formed 
conviction that "the college is farther from the market-place than 
is the church." It was evidently his thought that in the college, as 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 145 

nowhere else, are nourished and cherished the highest intellectual 
and moral ideas. 

But here are institutions with new purposes and new rela- 
tions. On their doorposts is written the word "practical," and 
in their classrooms the student is asked to consider the vocational 
side of Hfe and he learns of machinery and slaughter-houses 
and railroads and markets; in short, he learns of all that man is 
doing, rather than of what man is thinking and dreaming and 
hoping. Is the future investigator with his imagination fired by 
ambitions for larger knowledge to come out of such an environ- 
ment ? We may well be solicitous whether the spirit of learning 
can survive in centers of thought where facts and principles are 
so constantly weighed and measured with reference to their 
material or commercial value. It is a serious matter if the new 
education that is now attracting to it thousands of our young 
men is to serve chiefly in commerciaHzing, rather than inteUec- 
tualizing, the most virile manhood of a nation that is already 
grossly materialistic. 

Friends and fellow-workers, these problems are your prob- 
lems. Now that an apparent transition in the aims and meth- 
ods of education is in progress, the institutions you represent, 
founded as they are upon the broadest possible basis of educa- 
tional function and leading as they do an invasion into new and 
untried fields, occupy a position of critical responsibility. May 
you possess such wisdom, and such initiative tempered by the 
lessons of experience, that your efforts will advance the intelli- 
gence and prosperity of the farm and shop, promote the love 
of learning, and uphold the standards of the scholar. 



ALUMNI DAY EXERCISES 
THURSDAY 



THE ALUMNI BUSINESS MEETINGS 

The preponderance of the old alumni, in influence at least, 
came out clearly in the subjects which absorbed the interest of 
both the forenoon and afternoon session of the Association. 
Easily foremost of these subjects was the preservation of old 
"College Hall." The rumor had circulated that this building 
was to be removed to make way for a new one, and earnest pro- 
tests were voiced from all sides. 

It is not difficult to understand the affection of the old gradu- 
ate for this building when we remember that until the middle 
8o's it was by far the most important building upon the campus. 
It contained the offices of the secretary and the president, and 
the library, chapel, and Young Men's Christian Association 
rooms were within it, as well as society and fraternity rooms, in 
addition to its designed use as a place for laboratories and class- 
rooms. The building having been so largely the center of the 
old graduates' interest, the frequent expression that it was the 
"one landmark which reminded the early student and graduate 
of the early days at the college" was well within bounds. The 
resolution which a special committee reported, asking the state 
Board of Agriculture to retain this landmark, was therefore 
unanimously adopted. 

The "Alumni Advisory Council" was easily the topic of 
second interest to the members of the Association. The institu- 
tion of this new college body has been somewhat belated, the 
idea having had its beginning fully ten years ago. The reso- 
lution of the State Board of Agriculture inviting the establish- 
ment of this council shows the designed sphere of the council and 
is as follows : 

RESOLUTIONS 
Resolved, That it is the unanimous belief of the members of this board 
that the continued prosperity and growth of this College will, of necessity, 

149 



I50 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

be largely dependent upon the loyal and practical support given it by the 
alumni; and that the best means of securing such support is to bring about 
a feeling of earnest and active co-operation betv/een the state board and 
faculty, and the alumni. Be it further 

Resolved, That in accordance with the spirit manifested in the foregoing 
resolution, the State Board of Agriculture hereby suggests and recommends 
that at the business meeting of the alumni, to be held at the College on 
June 1 7, there be elected from the alumni an advisory council of six mem- 
bers, whose duty it shall be to confer together from time to time upon 
the general welfare of the institution. And finally. Be it 

Resolved by this board in regular session, that we hereby extend to 
such advisory council, as soon as it shall be organized, an invitation to 
meet with us, at least once each year, and as much oftener as said council 
shall consider desirable, for the purpose of mutual conference upon all 
matters pertaining to the work of the College. 

This ten-year-old invitation from the board was heartily 
accepted by the Alumni Association and directions were voted 
as to the method by which the new council should be constituted. 
Prolonged tardiness on the part of the alumni in creating this 
new board may prove indeed quite other than ominous to its 
future usefulness. The celerity with which the first council, 
consisting of R. S. Baker 1889, Eugene Davenport 1878, Wil- 
liam Prudden 1878, George J. Jenks 1889, E. N. Pagleson 1889, 
and L. W. Watkins 1893, has organized for its purposes fairly 
atones for the delay. 

Subordinate in the interest which they aroused but scarcely 
so in importance were the additional topics which aroused 
discussion. Chief among them were the desirability of a per- 
manent alumni secretary to be designated by the Board of 
Agriculture, the preparation of a history of the College through 
the authority of the Board of Agriculture, and the appointment 
of a memorial fund committee by the Advisory Council, all of 
which were recommended by the Alumni Association. 

A review of the proceedings of these notable meetings may close 
perhaps in no better way than with the final resolution proposed 
by the committee on resolutions and adopted by the association: 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 151 

That the alumni congratulate the people of the state that the institution 
has closed so long a period of honorable history. We all earnestly hope 
and believe that, v.'hile encouraging all forms of healthy activity, from the 
athletic field to the forum of practical affairs, the influence of the Michigan 
Agricultural College will always be for the highest attainable scholarship, 
upon which alone the enduring reputation of the institution may rest. 

The alumni officers for the ensuing triennial period are : 

EXECUTIVE 
Judge W. L. Carpenter 1875, President 
Professor P. M. Chamberlain 1888, Vice-President 
Professor W. O. Hedrick 1891, Secretary-Treasurer 

LITERARY 
Hon. C. W. Garfield 1870, Orator 
Mrs. Katherine C. Briggs 1893, Poet 
Mr. G. L. Stewart 1895, Historian 
Mr. S. B. Lilly 1907, Necrologist 



ALUMNI LUNCHEON 

Thursday Noon 

One of the most pleasant events of the week, as far as the 
alumni were concerned, was the luncheon served in the big tent 
on Thursday at noon to about 1,200 of the alumni and old stu- 
dents. Nothing elaborate in a menu was attempted, and yet an 
abundance of things good to eat was served. It was not eat- 
ables themselves, however, that made the luncheon such a 
decided success. The fact that 1,200 former college students 
and chums were eating together, grouped in classes, talking, 
joking, singing, and in these various ways living over again the 
good old college days in one great family picnic, was what made 
this feature of the program such an overwhelming success. 

On entering the tent alumni were informed: "Classes are 
numbered," and members of each class found a placard con- 
spicuously planted as a rallying-center for them. In this way 
with ease and without the slightest confusion the old students 
were placed in an atmosphere entirely congenial and among 
old classmates, some of whom had not been seen since the 
college days. Many long-time mysteries were cleared up, and 
the missing links in many college romances were forged into the 
chain. The folly of serving beer in a dormitory was one of the 
topics of discussion in the 1883 camp, and 1884 was still chuck- 
ling over the way they put 1883 in the hole on the faculty in- 
vestigation over Knapper's buggy. Tallman's pear-swiping 
expedition was brought to light by 1895, ^^^ "How a Lamb 
Was Led to (the) Drink" was under discussion in the camp of 
1898. What became of the college bell will be revealed in 1957, 
along with other mysteries that develop and become the life- 
history of the institution, and are of necessity milestones in the 
lives of the student population. 

152 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 153 

The paper napkins with the likeness of Dr. Beal, the surviving 
member of "the Old Guard," are treasures, and the menu book- 
let with its reminders of dear old Dr. Kedzie and of the college 
presidents was a pleasing feature of the occasion and is a valuable 
souvenir of the jolly, rolHcking days that have passed into his- 
tory, days in the institution which we all love. 

How many of us will meet again on the old campus at the 
next milestone? Assuredly not all and mayhap not many; 
but, old or young, let us all resolve firmly that "some time we'll 
wander back again." 



ALUMNI LITERARY EXERCISES 
THXJRSDAY AFTERNOON 



THE ALUMNUS AS A CITIZEN 



RUSSELL ALLEN CLARK, 1876 



In speaking of the alumnus as a citizen, one must accord to 
him a plane above that occupied by the average citizen, or by the 
community as a whole. I think the correctness of this assertion 
needs no demonstration. 

Every alumnus has incurred a debt of gratitude to his Alma 
Mater, which has looked after his needs, heeded his peculiarities, 
expanded his special faculties, rounded out his nature, and made 
him a cultured, self -poised, resourceful citizen. 

His first duty, therefore, is to repay that debt of gratitude to 
his Alma Mater. I fancy if we should ever attempt to compute 
the cost to this commonwealth in providing each of us with our 
diploma, that we would be amazed at the magnitude of the 
figures. 

While this seems like a great burst of philanthropy on the 
part of the commonwealth, yet it is largely a selfish movement 
on its part, as it makes this investment with an eye single to the 
fact that such an investment will raise the standard of citizen- 
ship as a whole, and thereby decrease the expense of poHcing 
the state, decrease the number of penal and pauper institutions, 
increase the value and productiveness of each man's labqr, and 
add to the safety and security of human life, and to the joy and 
pleasure of living. 

If each alumnus is true to the obhgations thus imposed on him, 
he will undertake earnestly and faithfully, to repay his debt to 
his Alma Mater. 

The most efficient way of doing so, is to make himself worthy 
of the institution whose name he bears, by adopting a high moral 
standard of living that will reflect credit upon his Alma Mater, 

157 



158 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

and be an influence for good in his community, as well as by 
manifesting a spirit of loyalty and devotion that will prompt him 
to sing its praises at all times and on all occasions. If each 
alumnus present takes heed of this latter suggestion, a new 
dormitory will be required to house the inflow of new students 
at the opening of the college year. 

Another debt of my alumnus citizen, equal in importance to 
the one he owes his Alma Mater, is his debt to society. The 
higher plane accorded him in the community brings with it 
corresponding burdens and obligations. The declaration that of 
him that hath much, much is required, appUes to the alumnus 
with peculiar force. Society demands that an educated man 
be a leader of broader thought and higher morals, and it is a 
responsibiUty that he cannot well escape. 

An educated man has no business to conduct himself in a 
manner that will detract from the public morals, whether it be 
laboring on the Sabbath day, using profane and vulgar language, 
or spitting on the sidewalk. 

"If meat maketh my brother to offend, I will eat no meat, so 
long as I shall live," is just as good ethics today, as when it was 
the rule of conduct of that great teacher and moraUst of 1900 
years ago. 

Such is the spirit of kindly consideration and love of kind, 
that I would have manifested by my alumnus citizen; and yet 
I v/ould not advocate a spirit of meekness of the Uriah Heep 
variety, if you please, but the spirit of meekness manifested by 
Jesus when he took httle children in his arms and blessed them, 
and the spirit of righteous indignation manifested by him, when 
he scourged the money changers from the Temple. 

Another debt imposed upon my alumnus citizen, and one 
quite as important as the others, is his duty to his country. It 
is in the discharge of this duty that the educated man bestows 
upon his fellow-citizens and upon the state that educated him 
the greatest benefit of his intellectual training. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 159 

I used often to recite at our rhetorical exercises a selection of 
Onille Dewey's, entitled "Liberty." I appreciated it then for 
its high-sounding phrases, and still more because it saved me 
the trouble of committing a new selection, but I am going to 
repeat a portion of it again today, because I now appreciate it foi 
its plain statement of our present national needs, and for its 
spirit of patriotism. He says in the opening sentence : 

Liberty, gentlemen, is a solemn thing, a v/elcome, a joyous, a glorious 
thing, if you please, but it is a solemn thing. The subjects of a despot 
may be reckless and gay, if they can, but a free people must be a thought- 
ful people, for it has to do the greatest thing that ever was done in the world — 
to govern itself/ 

Emerson says, "Society is the lengthened shadow of one man." 
If society, then the state, and you, then, are the state, and to you 
we are to look for the proper administration of its affairs. Your 
ancestors, after long years of hardship, suffering, and bloodshed, 
created an infant repubhc, which was brought to them by an 
eagle instead of a stork, and under their fostering care it has 
grown to be a giant in the community of nations. For its proper 
guidance and control they formulated the most wonderful docu- 
ment ever created by the mind of man. 

This is the splendid heritage that your illustrious ancestors 
have handed down to you; and the question of the hour is, 
What are you going to do with it, my brethren ? 

Did you ever notice a field of|wheat on a June day, as it was 
kissed by the sun, and fanned by the gentle summer breeze, or 
frowned upon by threatening clouds, and lashed by the gale that 
precedes the thunder storm ? And did you notice the heads of 
rye, that here and there towered above the wheat; and that 
whether it was the summer breeze that gently swayed the mass 
of wheat, or whether it was lashed to violent motion by the angry 
gale, the heads of rye stood erect, unmoved, and seemed to look 
with calmness and compassion upon their lowly brothers, but 
wholly unmoved by the influences that disturbed their neighbors ? 



i6o MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

My brethren, the rye in the wheat field typifies your position 
among the masses, in the political field. If this republic is to be 
perpetuated, and it will be, it will be accomplished by your zeal 
and splendid patriotism, as well as by that of your brothers of 
kindred institutions, who, whenever a great crisis arises in human 
afifairs, will bring to it disciplined minds, a high standard of 
moral honor, a broad altruistic spirit, and a calm, dispassionate 
outlook upon the whole problem, that will enable you to decide 
it in the interests of the greatest good to the greatest number. 
And having so decided it you will be able to influence the masses 
for their own, and their country's good; for from the skyline of 
history, to the present day, the minority has always beaten the 
majority in the end, when the issue was a moral problem. 

There are undisciplined minds in every community, who 
assert, with a good deal of gusto, that the spirit of this age is that 
of the classes against the masses, and that there is one law for 
the capitalist and another for the laborer. Now, while this is 
the marshmallow age of fiction, yet exactly the opposite of that 
is true in the administration of governmental law and order. 

It is a long way from Mount Sinai to America, but the thim- 
dering voice of thou shall not, speaks in louder tones today 
than when uttered on Mount Sinai, just as our civiHzation is 
higher than the age in which it was first uttered. 

My brethren, into your hands is given the keeping of the Ark 
of Liberty, and for its sacred care and protection, you shall 
answer to posterity. 

The greatest debt of my alumnus citizen is the one he owes 
to himself. 

If there is any message more than another that I would bring 
to you, it is to live your life. Do not expiate it, do not creep, or 
crawl, or apologize for living; but stand up, proud in your 
conscious manhood, facing the world courageously, and bearing 
the imprint of the Godlike spirit within you. Make your life its 
own excuse for being ! 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION i6l 

The man who looks the world squarely in the face, who is 
afraid of no man, and of whom no man is afraid, views the 
world from the mountain tops, as did the gods on Mount 
Olympus. 

Perhaps some of my younger brethren, who, like myself, 
took their postgraduate course in the College of Hard Knocks, 
have often asked themselves the question, "Is it worth while 
to make a living ?" 

No, most emphatically, no ! It is not worth while to make 
a living; but I tell you, it is worth while to make a life. Why, 
making a living is the lowest ambition that ever entered the 
breast of man. Everything that lives and breathes, from the 
mountainous elephant to the coral insect, makes a living ! 

Cassie Chadwick made a living, but Frances Willard made 
a life! 

The courageous man, and the resourceful man is one who 
builds a temple of success on a foundation made of his failures ! 
Do you say that I have pictured an ideal life, and one that could 
be lived only in Utopia? Perhaps so; but don't you know, 
my brethren, that we are all traveling toward the beautiful City 
of our Ideals, and while we know perfectly well that we shall 
never reach it, yet dwelling in the suburbs is very delightful. 

To my youngest brethren, who will receive the right hand of 
fellowship and be taken into full communion on the morrow, I 
want to extend my congratulations, and my condolence : Con- 
gratulations, on your having received such a splendid training 
at the hands of this great commonwealth of Michigan, my 
Michigan, on which it has set its great seal, in joyous approval; 
condolence, at your handicap in entering the race of life ; for any 
young man living four years under the fostering care of his 
chosen college develops certain false notions of life, one of which 
is that the world must certainly recognize and cater to — a col- 
lege degree ! 

I recall, very distinctly, my inclination to carry a club and 



i62 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

whack every plebeian head that failed to show me the deference 
to which I felt a college man was entitled. 

Another of these false notions is the mistaken idea that a 
college degree and a permanent income are synonymous terms. 

Another is the feeling of discom-agement you will experience 
when you return to your respective homes, and find that the boys 
you left behind on the farms have farms of their own, and the 
boys who drove delivery wagons have stores and warehouses 
of their own. 

The advantage you have over the boys who stayed at home 
and gained dollars, while you gained knowledge, is that they 
have reached their limitations, while the educated man "trains 
on," and his development here is his academic training for the 
larger life beyond. 

Whatever the fates may have in store for you, rest assured 
there is always vouchsafed to you God's greatest blessing to 
man — the blessing of work! Love, laughter, and work! 0/t, 
blessed trinity of man^s existence ! 

A gentlemen recently wrote the Carnegie Steel Company in 
behalf of a young friend who had just completed a course at 
Princeton; he closed his letter by saying he felt certain his 
yoimg friend would give them entire satisfaction, as he was 
a very sharp young man. 

The officer to whom the letter was referred returned it with 
a memorandum across the bottom of the letter, saying, "The 
Carnegie Steel Co. has no place for sharp men; what the com- 
pany needs is broad men sharpened to a point." 

He that hath ears to hear, let him heat. 

If I were asked my personal viewpoint of life, I could best 
express it in a beautiful prayer of Max Ehrman, in which he 
«ays: 

Let me do my work each day; and if the 
Darkened hours of despair overcome me, 
May I not forget the strength that comforted me 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 163 

In the desolation of other times. May I 

Still remember the bright hours that found me 

Walking over the silent hills of my childhood, 

Or dreaming on the margin of the quiet river 

When a light glov/ed within me 

And I promised my early God to have 

Courage amid the tempests of the changing years. 

Spare me from the bitterness and sharp passion 

Of unguarded moments. May I not forget 

That poverty and riches are of the spirit. 

Though the world knows me not, 

May my thought and actions be such 

As shall keep me friendly with myself. 

Lift my eyes from the earth and let me 

Not forget the uses of the stars. 

Forbid that I should judge others, lest I condemn myself. 

Let me not feel the glamour of the v/orld, 

But walk calmly in my path. Give me 

A few friends who will love me for v/hat I am; 

And keep ever burning before my vagrant steps 

The kindly light of hope; and though 

Age and infirmity overtake me, and I 

Come not v/ithin sight of the castle of my dreams, 

Teach me still to be thankful for life, 

And for time's olden moments that are 

Good and sweet; and may the evening twilight 

Find me gentle, still. 



INSULATED WEALTH 



RAY STANNARD BAKER, 1889 



I have two or three things I should like to talk about here 
today — some things I have been turning over in my mind for a 
long time, things I am especially glad to have the opportunity 
of saying at a jubilee gathering like this, the real object of which 
13 to survey the accomplishment during half a century of a new 
kind of education. 

Not long ago I was talking with one of the foremost charity 
organizers of New York City a man who spends a great many 
thousands of dollars every year in advancing various good causes. 
I asked him if he did not find difl&culty in raising the immense 
sums of money required by his activities. His answer some- 
what surprised me. "Of course," he said, "but the chief diffi- 
culty is not in raising money but in knowing how to spend it 
wisely." He called attention to the immense benefactions of 
Rockefeller, and Mrs. Russel Sage; he said that Carnegie was 
finding it a harder task to give away his fortune wisely than it 
had been to make it. He told me of a rich man who had worked 
for months devising a method of expending $250,000 for a cer- 
tain benevolence, so that in the end the money would not do 
more harm than good. 

My friend was talking of charity, but his remarks, it seemed 
to me, applied more widely to the activities of our modern Ameri- 
can life. It is popular at this moment to execrate our richest 
men, our Rockefellers and Carnegies; but after aU, are they 
not a pretty fair representation of us as a people ? 

Broadly speaking, we Americans have learned how to pile up 
wealth, but we faL in knowing how to use it wisely. 

In the last seventy years we have learned to apply machinery 

164 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 165 

to the development of nature's resources. I do not need to 
describe here how machinery has revolutionized agricultural 
industry and transportation. Our grandfathers could not have 
imagined the crops of dollars which by means of machinery we 
now gather from our fields and mines. The country has become 
literally intoxicated with the possibilities of speedy fortune- 
making. We have come dangerously near, as a people, to 
honor men not for wisdom or goodness but according to their 
abiUty in accumulating dollars. For how long have we held 
up as a hero to our schoolboys the man who, beginning with 
nothing, has made his way upward — to what ? Why, to money, 
loads of money! We have worshiped the "self-made man," 
the "captain of industry." The chief activity of our educational 
system has been to produce wealth-makers. What does the 
word "success" commonly mean as it is applied today ? Suc- 
cess means the ability to make money, to own a fine house, to 
ride in an automobile, to give a good dinner ! 

Our life, every phase of it, shows our great capacity for mak- 
ing money — our failure to spend it wisely. What an example is 
presented by the rich American who, having accumulated a 
fortune in a few years, is running about the world trying to buy 
excitement. 

Having had no training except as a money-maker, no intellec- 
tual resources beyond that, no knowledge of how money may be 
made really useful to himself or to society, he cuts, indeed, a 
pathetic figure ! One of the things he does first is to build and 
furnish a huge house in which he does not know how to live. 
One such palace has just been completed at the cost of millions 
of dollars in New York City by a rich man who is also a United 
States senator — by purchase. It is visited by foreigners as a 
pattern of American vulgarity and crudity. Millions of dollars 
are expended every year in wasteful eating, drinking, and dress- 
ing by people who know how to make money, but who do not 
know how to use it. Visit any of our cities and you will find 



i66 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

that the popular temples of worship are not the churches but 
the eating and drinking-places, the mighty temples where 
expensive raiment and jewelry may be purchased. Our news- 
papers treat us daily to the scandals, divorces, and crimes 
of men and women who have more money than they know how 
to use — except in that senseless and selfish material luxury which 
breeds immorality. And this is not confined to the obvious 
examples of the great millionaires whose doings are reported 
in the daily journals, but the same rule apphes in the small cities 
and even in country neighborhoods. How many times have we 
seen men ruined by the wealth they had worked so hard to win — 
because they never learned how to use it wisely. 

Our pubhc activities show the same conditions. No states 
or cities in the world are able to raise such vast sums as ours. 
Our country is very rich. Almost unlimited amounts of money 
can be obtained for pubhc purposes. But how do we spend 
it ? Let the stories of graft and political corruption told in the 
last few years answer that question. Our governments, whether 
state or city, have not learned how to use their money wisely 
any more than those who inhabit them. The state of Pennsyl- 
vania has just finished a gorgeous new capital building costing 
miUions upon millions of dollars. The money was easily raised, 
for Pennsylvania is a wealthy state ; but we are just now finding 
out that those who supervised the expenditure of the money 
wasted or stole over one-third of the amoimt appropriated. A 
city is cursed with bad pavements as in Chicago; corrupt police 
service as in New York, which not only allows but encourages 
crime; or with a water-system Hke that of Scranton, Pennsyl- 
vania, which, instead of improving the health of the people with 
pure water, actually spreads typhoid fever; and these things 
do not exist because there is not plenty of money to build good 
pavements and supply good water but because the city adminis- 
tration does not know how to spend the money it has. For a 
government, after all, is just like the people who make it. We 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 167 

can't expect public servants who know how to use money wisely 
and honestly when we as a people use our money wastef ully and 
selfishly. In short, we Americans have overtrained the facul- 
ties which produce wealth; we have sadly undertrained the 
faculties which use it. 

But we are beginning to recognize this national weakness. 
We are beginning to pay less honor to the mere "captain of 
industry." We inquire not how much cash a man has, but how 
he made it, and how he is using it. Every day we are looking 
more sharply to the "swollen fortune," and demanding that the 
possessor of it give an account of himself to the public. Rocke- 
feller and Harriman have become, in spite of their wealth, the 
most execrated of our citizens. We even hear discussion as to 
whether or not a community should accept a library given by 
Carnegie, or whether a college can safely take Rockefeller's 
so-called "tainted money." When we come to think of it, does 
not that show a most remarkable change in public sentiment ? 
In other words, the proper use of money, as well as the produc- 
tion of it, is being more widely discussed. 

So unusual is the capacity today for knowing how to spend 
money wisely that the man who possesses it cannot only obtain 
all the money he wants, but is in a fair way to become famous. 
You all know the story of the unknown New York reporter, who 
had a plan for spending millions of dollars in playgrounds and 
parks for the East Side poor. It appeared to be a scheme of 
impossible magnitude, but Jacob A. Riis not only succeeded in 
getting the money, but won a country-wide fame because he 
knew how to spend it. A negro boy who had been a slave — 
Booker T. Washington — has asked for $2,000,000 to build a 
school — and has got it, because he had a wise way to use it. 
After the San Francisco earthquake the country poured out 
milHons of dollars to help the sufferers. It was no trouble to 
get money; but when I was in San Francisco last September, I 
saw what a gigantic task it was to use it properly. Much of it 



1 68 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

was wasted, not because the administrators were dishonest, but 
because they did not know how to spend it. 

It is a great thing to teach a boy, as he is taught in the engineer- 
ing department of this College, the art of producing electricity — 
producing it cheaply and in large amounts. Having taught 
him that, we should regard it as a strange sort of education that 
did not also train him with equal care in the methods of con- 
trolling such a dangerous agency to the use of man. For, turned 
loose over broken or uninsulated wires, the more electricity, the 
more ruin. Wealth is exactly Kke that. We have learned to 
produce it with immense faciUty in hitherto unequaled amounts; 
but we have sadly failed in that insulation, that control, which 
harnesses a powerful and dangerous agency to the use of man. 
We are the victims today of what may be called uninsulated 
wealth. Wealth used properly is our servant ; used improperly, 
our master. 

The greatest need today in our American life is the expert 
money-user — men who know how to use money wisely for them- 
selves or for the pubHc good. And they are hard to find ! Let 
me call your attention to two or three significant things. One 
of the greatest beneficences of recent years was that of Mr. 
Carnegie when he founded the Carnegie Institution. What is 
the purpose of the millions of dollars at the disposal of the direct- 
ors of that fund ? Why, to find men who have ideas of how to 
spend money wisely — and having found them, to give them the 
money they require to work out theii plans. The essential 
question that they ask is this: "Can you spend money so that 
it will help the human race ?" — and if they are satisfied that a 
man can do it, all the resources of the institution are placed 
behind him. 

And just recently, as you all know, Mrs. Russell Sage has 
given a vast fund of money, $10,000,000, which is to be used, 
not to relieve poverty, not for education, but in finding out how 
money can best be expended in helping the poor. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 169 

Think of giving $10,000,000 to find out new ways of spending 
money ! It shows, does it not, how clearly the great possessors 
of money like Carnegie and Mrs. Sage appreciate the problems 
of using wealth with wisdom. And they, of all people, having 
unlimited millions in their control, ought to know ! 

I come now to the application of what I have to say. Gentle- 
men, we are not farmers, or professional men, or business men, 
merely to mahe money; we have also a great responsibility in 
using it. If we teach our boys that the only object in life is 
cash, we shall expect them to produce nothing but cash — and 
afterward waste it, or use it to their own ruin. In a new country 
perhaps it was inevitable that the main emphasis should be 
placed upon wealth production. But we are no longer new; 
and we are very lich. Is it not time in our educational system, 
and in our home-training, to give more emphasis to the proper 
use of wealth ? Is it not too common to consider an education 
as a mere business proposition ; so much book-learning invested 
with nn idea that it will produce, in ten, twenty, or forty vears, 
so much cash ? 

What, then, do we need in our schools and colleges that we 
have not got ? 

We need two different things. In the first place the individual 
man must be trained not only in money-making, but he must 
be given knowledge of how money should be used in something 
besides fine houses, fine clothes, and wasteful eating and drink- 
ing. There must be training in how to get the best things out 
of life — in literature, art, music, travel. Unless surplus wealth 
widens our opportunities for development and happiness along 
these higher lines, of what real use is it to anyone ? There is a 
danger, in school? devoted wholly to technical or industrial 
education, which train men for money-making, that the other 
side of life should be forgotten. 

But however much we need to know how to spend money 
wisely for ourselves, there is even a greater necessity for proper 



I70 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

training in the methods of using it wisely for public purposes. 
The importance of that education in a time hke the present, in 
which questions of vast national concern are crowding for at- 
tention, cannot be overemphasized. We need in our colleges 
a broader and more careful training of boys and girls in what 
may be called the human sciences. I speak of them here as 
human sciences. They have been for the most part treated in 
a way inhumanly dull, impossibly forbidding. I mean the 
science of sociology, economics, political economy — those sub- 
jects which treat of the relationships of men and the duties and 
responsibiUties which grow out of them. In most schools these 
subjects, which are in many ways more important to the citizens 
of a democracy than anything else, are commonly neglected. 
We produce excellent farmers, doctors, lawyers, chemists, engi- 
neers, and we train each of them to make money from his calling, 
but we fail dismally in training our boys and girls for citizenship. 
We make Httle or no attempt to develop that social sympathy 
and responsibility upon which, after all, every free government 
must rest. 

I was greatly impressed yesterday with Dr. Bessey's address 
on the old methods of science teaching, in which the student 
learned of nature, not from nature, but out of books. When he 
studied botany he studied only to know the names of plants, 
not the plants themselves. That is exactly the stage, today, 
which our teaching of citizenship, of social responsibiUty, has 
reached. I tell you, if we would govern'^ourselves wisely, we must 
first learn to do it. We must teach it not merely out of books 
but out of Hfe. The great contribution of the Michigan Agri- 
cultural College to education, it seems to me, has been the 
inspiration it has given to the study of life direct, the widening 
of the laboratory system of education. Now, what we need 
today in the teaching of economics and sociology is the laboratory 
method. I can only throw out a few suggestions here, trusting 
that they may not, among so many educators, be lost. If I had 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 171 

a class in sociology I should not begin by considering the struc- 
ture of the human family, the departments of government — the 
whole universe of history which can be had only in books. I 
should do exactly what you botanists and chemists do when you 
hand your class a real plant or a bit of actual earth to work upon. 
I should say to my class: In front of the schoolhouse you will 
find a hole in the pavement. Go out and study it; find out 
exactly what it means. And I'd have a report on that hole, and 
before I got through with it, I warrant you, my class would 
know more about the alderman and the mayor and the political 
boss than most voters you and I are acquainted with. And if 
I had a class in economics, do you know what I'd do? I'd 
give them specimens to work on, too. I'd bring in a new shoe 
and cut open the sole. I'd show them that while it was sold 
at a high price as solid leather, in reaUty it was half paper. I'd 
set that class at work on the shoe and keep them at it until they 
knew the whys and wherefores of the fraud. 

Under present conditions, even when educated men are 
called upon to serve as public officers, or to vote for public offi- 
cers, or to spend the pubhc money, they do not know how to go 
about it. The result is that the government of our cities too 
often falls into the hands of inefficient or corrupt men, who 
waste or steal the wealth with which the public intrusts them. 
Is it not astonishing, when we come to think of it coldly, as a 
fact, that while we cunningly train our engineers, our lawyers, 
and our farmers, we are willing, in many instances, to take 
untrained men, even saloon-keepers, ward-heelers, and crimi- 
nals, and place them over us as our officers, our governors, 
legislators, mayors, and give into their control all of the vast 
sums of public money ? Think of it ! I wonder what a visitor 
from Mars, coming down here to study our institutions, would 
say about such a system. We might expect him to write to his 
home paper, something to this effect : 

"They educate everybody in this country called America: 



172 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

they have wonderful schools for lawyers, doctors, engineers, 
farmers, but strangely enough, they do not think of educating 
their rulers. Everybody is taught to work for himself; nobody 
is taught to work for the public good. They try to govern them- 
selves without learning how to govern. They raise immense 
sums of money for improving their cities, but much of it is 
wasted or stolen because the rulers they elect are ignorant. It 
is a strange and childish people!" 

But I think we are coming to the time when we shall recognize 
the needs in our schools of a proper training in citizenship, I 
wish, at this great celebration, when our minds are turned to the 
subject of education and educational methods, that we might bear 
this matter in mind; remembering that our nation cannot hve 
unless men are in some way trained in the knowledge of those 
social relationships and awakened to that social sympathy which 
lies at the foundation of democracy. 

We need to know how to produce wealth. That art is al- 
ready pre-eminently ours; but we also need more and more to 
know how the great power of wealth may come, by proper insu- 
lation, to illuminate, not to destroy our lives. 



TO OLD M. A. C. 



MRS. PEARL KEDZIE PLANT, li 



Now thy children here assemble 

For thy glorious jubilee; 
Thy stately halls and campus fair 

Tell thy prosperity. 
Full fifty years of service 

Thou hast rendered to our land, 
And the triumph of the labors 

We proclaim on every hand. 

Chorus — 

To old M. A. C. we'll sing. 
And we'll make the echoes ring; 
Loyal hearts and hands we bring 
To this jubilee. 
So with spirits free and gay, 
We will our homage pay, 
On this grand Alumni Day, 
To old M. A. C! 

There are many well-known faces, 

Some there are v/e see no more, — 
Ah ! the years have gone by swiftly 

Since our college days were o'er. 
Now we come again as ever 

On this campus green and fair. 
And clasp the hands of schoolmates 

And bid good-bye to care. 

Chorus — 

Our hearts are full to bursting 
With the love we hold to thee, 

Our dear old Alma Mater, 
Our grand old M. A. C. ! 

173 



174 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Now we meet to do thee honor, 

And to own our boundless debt 
For thy fostering care and precepts, 
"Lest we forget, — forget." 

Chorus — 

We are proud to be thy children, 

Proud of thy great w^ork and fame, 
Proud of noble men and women, 

Who have labored in thy name. 
And whate'er of riches, fame, or power 

We bring, as here we meet, — 
We gladly and most proudly 

Lay all down at thy feet. 

Chorus — 

Fifty years ! A half a century 

By the cycle of the stars; 
Fifty years of upward striving 

And the path no failure mars. 
Of thy progress through the decades. 

Men with wonder hear the tale; 
Now we hail thee in this triumph, 

Our Alma Mater, hail ! 

Chorus — 



SKETCHES BY THE HISTORIAN 



CHARLES JAY MONROE, 1861 



Mr. President and Brother Alumni: 

But for the thoughtful reminder of President Clark not long 
ago, the program would probably have been my notice that I 
was to be the historian, for, if I had known of the election, it had 
escaped me. 

After considerable thought about the alumni, widely scattered 
over this country and many parts of the world, and of the large 
number holding honorable and responsible positions in similar 
institutions or in alHed work, I concluded after much worry and 
consideration to throw the material aside and give a brief talk 
about our Alma Mater, feehng that on this the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the College, when we expected a large number to return 
to it^ many, after years of absence, would be glad to have their 
memories refreshed by recaUing very briefly the history of the 
inception, organization, dedication, growth, and some of the 
work of this College. 

The College was pre-eminently a pioneer, created by pioneers 
of Michigan, and it has been a leading pioneer in nearly every- 
thing pertaining to its organization, building, administration, 
plans of work, and courses of study. 

Its existence, like the university, normal, and common schools, 
finds its warrant, if it needs any, in the ever-memorable ordi- 
nance of 1787 where the need of knowledge is tersely stated and 
the command to encourage it is definitely given. 

Michigan has intelligently and liberally heeded that command. 
Its second territorial governor, General Cass, who held the 
ofl&ce from October 29, 18 13, to August i, 1831, when he re- 
signed to fill President Jackson's appointment as secretary of 

17s 



176 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

war, was active and enthusiastic in promoting agriculture, as 
evidenced by his being chosen by the State Agricultural Society 
(whose officials were familiar with his interests in agriculture) 
to deliver the address at its third annual fair, in 1857. In 1850 
he addressed the Kalamazoo County Society, and others might 
be mentioned. These addresses would be worthy of repetition 
whenever or wherever agricultural interest or education was 
being considered. In 181 7 when the first act to establish a 
university was adopted by the governor and judges of the Terri- 
tory of Michigan, providing for thirteen professorships, the pur- 
pose of at least three of them and the provision for botanic 
gardens and laboratories indicated the desire and intention to 
provide for instruction in agriculture. 

The first constitution of the state was framed by a convention 
in 1835 and provided, among other things, that ''the legislature 
shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellec- 
tual, scientific, and agricultural improvement." 

Stephen T. Mason, who practically acted as governor from 
Cass's resignation, August i, 183 1, until he was elected and 
qualified as governor, January i, 1838, had become thoroughly 
imbued with a sense of the importance of agriculture to the 
growth and development of the state ; so, in his first message in 
January, 1838, he declared in substance that the real prosperity 
of the state is most dependent upon the cultivation of the soil, 
that whatever encouragement is secured for the agricultural 
interest extends a benefit to other departments of industry. 
Agriculture being a primary and most important branch of 
state economy, it is the duty of the legislature not only to protect 
its members from disproportionate burdens, but to facilitate to 
them the advantages derived from the researches of science and 
the discoveries and improvements of the age. With this object 
in view he recommended the creation of a board or society, to 
foster and encourage this great source of national prosperity 
and independence, to gather desirable information, and at the 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 177 

public expense to distribute it to the farmers of the state. A 
year later, he again called the attention of the legislature to this 
subject, sa)dng: 

The agricultural interest is one of great importance and claims with 
justice the protection of the government, and yet it has received less aid 
from direct legislation, than any other department of industry. But I feel 
that when it is recollected how essentially the real prosperity of Michigan 
depends upon the cultivation of her soil and the labor of her husbandmen, 
the subject will receive your earnest consideration and favorable action. 

From the widespread interest at this time, and the activity 
of influential men throughout the state, and particularly at 
Detroit, I believe the feeling is warranted that but for the specu- 
lation and "wild-cat money" resulting in the panic of 1837, 
Michigan would have had an agricultural school or college start- 
ing with the new state. Probably because of the disorganizing 
and depressing influences following the panic, little was said or 
done for some years; at least I have found httle of pubHc record, 
although the need of better educational facilities for the farmer 
continued to be a feature of the address at state and county fairs 
and in articles written for the press, and the interest was kept 
alive. 

In March, 1849, while the legislature was in session, some 
sixty members issued a call for a meeting to organize an agri- 
cultural society. An act to incorporate was approved on April 2. 
Most of those who had been active in promoting the agricul- 
tural interests and education of the state, with others, became 
members and organized the State Agricultural Society. 

Governor Ransom was elected president and J. C. Holmes, 
who had persistently worked for its organization, was naturally 
chosen secretary. It held a fair at Detroit in the fall of that 
year, and E. H. Lothrop, a farmer living at Galesburg, delivered 
the address. I will quote only a single paragraph of the many 
good things he had to say : 

While our people and our government, both state and national, are 
truly liberal and pour 'out their money like water in the establishment of 



1 78 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

literary and other public institutions, and dot our lands with theological 
seminaries, with medical seminaries, and with military seminaries, poor 
agriculture, whose hand sows the seed and whose arm gathers the harvest 
on which all our earthly comforts, and even our very existence depend, as 
yet has no seminary in which to teach her sons the most valuable of all arts. 

While this may sound a Httle Uke a fault-finding wail, it is to 
be remembered that he was in a new part of a new state, with 
little income and much outgo; seed was scarce and expensive. 
After planting, it was usually a fight against the gophers, black- 
birds, crows, and other enemies to save the seed. 

In the fall, before it was fully ripe, the squirrels, woodchucks, 
coons, and hedgehogs were on hand early in the morning and 
late at night devouring the crop. He had to battle against an 
army of insects and numerous diseases of vegetable and animal 
life. The soil seemed fickle; floods and droughts came, and the 
blighting effects of frost and heat withered the crop. With 
these and many other things to contend with, his plea was not to 
deprive other professions or classes of business, of money for 
education, but that "poor agriculture" should get a share of the 
money to obtain knowledge of meteorology, zoology, entomology, 
chemistry, physics, drainage, conservation of moisture, and other 
sciences needed in farming. Mr. Lothrop is named because 
by education, experience, and observation he showed by his 
utterances that he was able to interpret and express the feelings 
of the farming class truthfully and effectively. The widespread 
sentiment of the farmers was further expressed and urged by 
such influential and persistent men as Bela Hubbard, J. C. 
Holmes, and Joseph R. Williams, the first president of the Col- 
lege and a member of the constitutional convention which put 
that important article in the constitution of 1850 requiring the 
legislature, "as soon as practicable to provide for the estabhsh- 
ment of an agricuhural school." The legislature of Michigan 
instructed its delegations in Congress to ask for 350,000 acres of 
land to estabUsh an agricultural school in this state. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 179 

In 1851, Governor Barry called attention in his message to 
the constitutional provision, which received some attention from 
members of the legislature. In 1853, a bill for an agricultural 
coUege was passed by the senate but lost in the house. 

Governor Bingham in his message to the legislature, in 
January, 1855, recommended the establishment of an agricul- 
tural school and at some length strongly urged action. A bill 
passed the senate by a vote of 24 to 5, and the next day passed 
the house by a vote of 52 to 13, and was approved February 12, 
1855. College Hall, a dormitory, and a small brick barn were 
erected in 1856 and on May 13, 1857, the College was duly 
dedicated. But the discussion as to whether it should continue 
as a separate institution, or exist at all, did not end, as is shown 
by the frequent discussions at various meetings and by articles 
in the public press, as well as by the opposition and strife at 
nearly every session of the legislature when the College appropri- 
ation was up for consideration down to 1869. In that year when 
the appropriation bill of $70,000 for the College had passed 
the house and came to the senate for concurrence, a carefully 
prepared bill was offered transferring the College to Ann Arbor, 
as a department of the university. This was defeated, and the 
$70,000 was given the College by a vote of 22 to 8. An 
editorial in the State Republican, under the heading of "End of 
a Ten-Year Fight," mentioned the vote as ending a fight to 
destroy an institution which a democratic majority had provided 
in the constitution, and a republican majority had put into 
active operation. 

A partial record of this long struggle will be found in the 
reports of either the State Agricultural Society, the State Board 
of Agriculture, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or the 
Pioneer Society. 

I wiU not follow this farther except to quote a paragraph from 
the Detroit Post of March 31, 1869, which fairly voices the gen- 
eral feeling at that date. 



l8o MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

It declared: "But the action of the state government has 
been so sweeping and provident that the Agricultural College 
may be looked upon as a permanent institution, unless it con- 
tains some inherent defect that no money or state aid can sup- 
ply." The article ended by "urging a cordial support of the 
College, and to invite a renewed interest in it and in its capa- 
bilities for educating and developing a strong, earnest, intelli- 
gent farming community." Thus it was fifty-two years be- 
tween the first legislative enactment hinting at agricultural 
instruction and the passage of the last act which seemed finally 
to settle and fix the status of the College. 

To get a broad view of the present and to meditate a Httle on 
the past, the roof of the new engineering building furnishes a 
good place. Walk around near the edge of it and think of fifty 
years ago, recaUing the three buildings, the few acres partially 
cleared, with charred logs, stumps, and the litter of the builders 
strewn around; the vision limited to a small circle bounded by 
a wall of forest trees, burned and blackened while clearing the 
few acres above mentioned. Recall the crooked road to Lansing 
with its mud holes, corduroy and roots of tiecs extending into 
the traveled part which had not been cut or worn away. Think 
of roads from Lansing to your respective depots, and of the rail- 
roads carrying you nearest to your home, and of the variety of 
vehicles, whether carriages, stage, lumber wagon, or on foot, 
the latter usually the most comfortable. Forgetting the past, 
stroll leisurely around again and inspect the campus, with every 
sort of tree, shrub, or vine common to this latitude, its walks and 
drives, its cozy nooks and winding paths, its flowers and plants 
in great variety, all or nearly all labeled and well kept. View 
the fifty or more buildings and think of their equipment and con- 
tents, constituting a very complete outfit for the purposes 
intended, especially when we get our agricultural building and 
fire-proof library, which we hope for in the near future. Linger a 
few moments more, and beyond the campus scan the gardens, 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION i8i 

fields, forest, and the experimental plats, all surrounded as far 
as the eye can reach with homes and farms indicating thrift and 
comfort. When ready to depart, you can safely go in patent- 
leather shoes over the macadem road to Lansing, ride comfort- 
ably in carriage or wagon, or rapidly by automobile, or make 
use of the cheap and convenient street cars, any of these landing 
you at or near the depots, where you may take commodious cars, 
running speedily over smooth tracks to or near your home. 
You may query, "What are some of the results of this vast expend- 
iture of time and money?" The following are suggested as a 
partial answer: Graduates, including 1907, 1,288, about half 
remaining in Michigan, and the other half scattered into every 
state and territory in the United States and about a dozen foreign 
countries. Non-graduates, 7,393, or a grand total of 8,681, 
besides 1,007 who have taken special courses in agriculture. 
Most of the non-graduates and many of the graduates are on 
farms, and the College has representatives in nearly every agri- 
cultural college and experiment station in the United States and 
a few in foreign countries, occupying positions from president 
down. A majority are following pursuits along the line of their 
college training or allied work. And it has been a matter of 
frequent remark that those who have been at the College and 
gone into the professional or commercial employments have 
taken a deeper or more lively interest in rural affairs. 

By the latest published Institute Report I find that the total 
attendance at farmers' institutes for 1905-6 was 126,535. The 
frequent lectures and talks given by those connected with the 
college to Grange gatherings, farmers' picnics, state and local 
horticultural societies, farmers' clubs, women's clubs, and to a 
large number of graded and district schools, easily swell the 
number to 150,000 during past year who get direct benefit from 
the college instruction, and all of these have an indirect influence 
on the people, difiicult to estimate. 

A number are employed in newspaper and magazine work. 



1 82 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

mainly writing on topics of special interest to the farmers and 
industrial classes. Thirty-four, the latest number I have seen, 
are employed in the Agricultural Department at Washington. 
In this connection, I wish to remind you that near the beginning 
of this College, there was a mere pittance expended by the 
United States for agriculture, and the Senate had dropped its 
committee on agriculture. Today, the government has a 
Department of Agriculture, regarded by the mass of its citizens 
as of equal importance to any other of its great departments. 

In my opinion, the creation of this department is largely due 
to the work and influence of this and other agricultural colleges 
and experiment stations. I will not detain you to enlarge upon 
its widespread and valuable services, as we are to have the 
pleasure tomorrow of hearing Hon. James Wilson, its present 
efficient secretary. 

My brother and sister, I appreciate that I have given you 
much with which many of you are familiar and that you will 
regard most of it as ancient history. But experience and obser- 
vation have convinced me that it is well to review at times the 
history of the struggles of the Revolution and of the Civil War. 
It increases our appreciation of what it cost to establish and 
maintain a government and so increases our patriotism and 
anxiety to guard, improve, and perpetuate it. So of our Alma 
Mater. She has had a long struggle and exists because of the 
host of intelligent and farsighted men and women who have 
through years of unwearying persistence and patience stood by 
her. AH this has undoubtedly made her a more efficient and 
helpful mother, enabling her to send out a stronger heritage. 
She being older than her sister colleges, her children have gone 
out in the past to work in other similar colleges in larger num- 
bers than have the graduates of any other college. Hence, by 
this exceptional opportunity they are able to bring back to their 
Alma Mater their expeiiences and observations upon nearly 
every college and experiment station in this country and in some 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 183 

foreign countries, I feel sure she will be specially ghd of their 
contributions. Equally sure am I that she is particularly proud 
of those of her children who have gone out to sister institutions, 
making their work an influence felt, and making a good name 
for themselves and for their Alma Mater. 

We realize that these colleges and experiment stations are 
engaged in similar work, the main purpose of which is to make 
worthy citizens of our grand republic, citizens who shall appre- 
ciate the need of good health and such a physical development 
as will enable them to stand the strenuous Ufe entailed by in- 
creasing competition. Who knows the value of a broad and 
thorough mental equipment as gi^'ing them a larger liberty in 
the choice of a pursuit, crownine: aU with such a moral fiber as 
will bring a ready "Yes" to the right, and such an emphatic 
"no" to the wrong as will ever ward off the tempter ? 



IRecrolog^ 



HERBERT WINDSOR MUMFORD, 1891 



It is something more than a duty, this custom of remembering 
those whose race is run or whose Hfe has prematurely gone out. 
Every loyal alumnus of our College feels that in setting aside a 
few minutes on the program we are giving but scant recognition 
to those who were once active among us. We are happy in our 
renewal of old associations and yet there is scarcely one of us 
who does not feel that something or someone is lacking to make 
our joy complete. To some who have, because of special ties 
of friendship or relationship, been especially bereaved, we, as 
alumni and brothers, extend our most cordial sympathy, and 
trust that this part of our program will recall sweet memories 
of those we loved. 

[Following this Professor Mumford spoke briefly of the life 
and work of each of the alumni who had died during the pre- 
ceding four years. The list of those of whose death he had 
learned, together with the date, with the class to which each 
belonged, and with the place and date of death, as far as learned, 
is given below.] 

L. V. Beebe, of the class of 1861, died at Utica, New York, 
August II, 1904. 

Sylvester M. Millard, of the class of 1864, died at Lake 
Geneva, Wisconsin, December i, 1905. 

Charles Henry Watson, of the class of 1866, died at Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin, April 14, 1907. 

George Finney Beasley, of the class of 1868, died in 
Detroit, November 2, 1904. 

William Asa Rowe, of the class of 1873, died in Vevay 
Township, Ingham County, Michigan, November i, 1905. 

184 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 185 

William C. Harper, of the class of 1873, died at Grand 
Rapids, Michigan, October 8, 1906. 

Dr. Lovias F. Ingersoll, of the class of 1874, died at Grand 
Junction, Colorado, in December, 1906. 

DusTiN C. Oakes, of the class of 1874, died at Grand Haven, 
Michigan, September 26, 1903. 

Dr. Corydon Pirnie Cronk, of the class of 1879, died at 
Cape Henry, Maryland, December 13, 1903. 

Alva Sherwood, of the class of 1881, died at Detroit, Mich., 
September 27, 1905. 

Dr. Willard H. Coffron, of the class of 1882, died at 
Grindstone City, Michigan, April 7, 1904. 

J. M. Hollingsworth, of the class of 1882, died at Whittier, 
Cahfornia, May 18, 1907. 

Perry G. Towar, of the class of 1885, died at Garden City, 
Kansas, October 8, 1906. 

C. P. Locke, of the class of 1891, died at Ionia, Michigan, 
December 27, 1904. 

Victor H. Lowe, of the class of 1891, died at Fort Collins, 
Colorado, August 27, 1903. 

Leander Burnett, of the class of 1892, died at Avalon, 
Pennsylvania, December 26, 1906. 

E. N. Thayer, of the class of 1893, died at Livingston, 
Montana, May 6, 1906. 

Noel M. Morse, of the class of 1896, died in New Haven 
Township, Gratiot County, Michigan, October 4, 1904. 

Miss Clare Dean, of the class of 1902, died at Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan, February 3, 1906. 

Harry Hammond Crosby, of the class of 1906, died at Three 
Oaks, Michigan, October 16, 1906. 



MEMORIAL DAY EXERCISES 
THURSDAY AFTERNOON 



MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS 



WASHINGTON GARDNER 



It seems eminently fitting that in the somewhat elaborate 
program of exercises commemorative of the founding of this 
institution of learning, whereby its history, its spirit, its aims and 
accomplishments are sought to be more fully set forth, a place 
should be given in honor of the heroes who went from its halls 
to the service of their country. In the earher, as in its later 
years, the atmosphere of the College seems to have been sur- 
charged with the spirit of patriotism. The first class was gradu- 
ated in the year the war for the preservation of the Union began, 
and of that class every member save one entered the federal 
army. One-third of its members were killed in battle or died 
of disease while in the service. In Civil War times the attend- 
ance, as compared with the present, was small, yet the records 
show that from the then student body there was in the Union 
army a total enrolment of sixty-eight. As an evidence of the 
high character and intelhgence of these sixty-eight young volun- 
teers, thirty-one became commissioned officers. In proof that 
the culture of the scholar and the valor of the hero are not in- 
compatible, it is only necessary to state that of these student 
warriors more than 13 per cent, were killed or mortally wounded 
in battle, that others died of disease, and still others were 
wounded, maimed of body, or broken in health, many of whom 
have long since gone to premature graves. 

In the late war between Spain and the United States, Michi- 
gan's quota of infantry was five regiments, and in these the 
names of forty-three officers and enlisted men are found in the 
student enrolment of the Agricultural CoUege. Having in mind 
this splendid record of patriotic service, may we not with pro- 

189 



I90 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

priety, on this national memorial day, consider some of the 
issues involved and some of the questions settled by the great 
war which asked and received such devotion and sacrifice not 
only from the students of this institution but everywhere from 
the patriotic young men of our country ? 

While there were important secondary influences that served 
well the purposes of the agitators on both sides, the basal diffi- 
culty was a question of construction of the fundamental law 
about which there was an honest difference of opinion. 

Under the Constitution as interpreted by the founders of the 
government and for a generation after them, there seems to have 
been no question as to the right of a state to withdraw from the 
Union. At that time the foremost men in the country seemed 
to regard the system of government under the Constitution as 
"an experiment entered upon by the states and from which each 
and every state had the right peaceably to withdraw, a right 
which was very likely to be exercised." In her act of ratification, 
the delegates of Virginia in the name of that commonwealth 
declared that the powers granted under the Constitution being 
derived from the people may be resumed by them whenever the 
same shall be perverted to their injury. Madison held that "as 
the Constitution of the United States was formed by the sanction 
of the states given by each in its sovereign capacity it followed 
of necessity that in the last resort there could be no tribunal 
above their authority to decide whether the contract made by 
them be violated." Mr. WiUiam Rawle, the eminent Pennsyl- 
vania jurist, in his commentaries said, "The states may wholly 
withdraw from the Union, but while they continue, they must 
retain the character of representative republics. The secession 
of a state from the Union depends on the will of the people of 
such state." 

There can be no doubt that, in the beginning, the union 
of the states was looked upon as a mere confederacy, an agree- 
ment, a compact, a bargain, an experiment, and that member- 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION IQI 

ship therein was regarded as subject to the wish or will of each 
to exercise its sovereign right to remain in or to go out from, as 
it saw fit. Witnesses are not wanting, individual or collective, 
to prove that this doctrine, so perilous to natural unity and na- 
tional permanency, permeated all sections and needed only what 
might be regarded as a sufficient grievance to make its operation 
manifest. The disastrous commercial results following the 
placing of an embargo upon American shipping by President 
Jefferson led to open threats by some leading Massachusetts 
men with a strong popular following, to dissolve the Union. 
The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, now, and for a long 
time, regarded by men of all parties in all sections of the coun- 
try as one of the master-strokes in American diplomacy and one 
of the crowning acts of American statesmanship, was deeply 
resented and bitterly opposed by many of the most eminent and 
patriotic of our countrymen. One of these was a soldier of 
excellent record in the War of the Revolution, a cabinet officer 
in the administration of Washington, and later in that of John 
Adams, and still later a distinguished senator in the Congress 
of United States who, in speaking of the preponderating influence 
the Louisiana Territory would give the South and West, said, 
"I will not despair. I will rather anticipate a new confederacy. 
There will be a separation. Our children at the farthest will 
see it." Another distinguished son of the North was the first 
to declare and advocate on the floor of the American Congress 
the doctrine of secession. Just fifty years before Fort Sumter was 
fired upon, when the bill for admission of Louisiana as a state 
was under discussion, Mr. Josiah Quincy, then a leading mem- 
ber of Congress and afterward for many years president of 
Harvard College, in defending the proposition that the Con- 
stitution had not conferred upon Congress the power to admit 
new states except such as should be formed from territory be- 
longing to the Union in 1787, said, "I am compelled to declare 
it as my deliberate opinion that if this bill passes^ the bonds of 



192 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

this Union are virtually dissolved, that the states which compose 
it are free from their moral obligations, and as it wiU be the 
right of all so it will be the duty of some to prepare definitely 
for a separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must." 

When the nation was in the midst of its second war with 
Great Britain and while the issue was still in doubt the Hartford 
convention, largely representing the New England states, was 
convened to discuss not the right — that seemed to be taken for 
granted — ^but the expediency of secession. With closed and 
sentineled doors they sought, among other things, to determine 
the advisability of forming a new confederacy with the Hudson 
River as its western boundary. 

The proposition to admit the territory of Missouri as a state 
into the Union without slavery evoked the most violent and 
foreboding discussion, not only in Congress but by the press and 
people throughout the country. In that discussion it was held 
by the South that to prohibit slavery in Missouri was a dangerous 
and despotic measure and one that would infringe upon the 
sovereignty of the states. Her indignant protests against the 
exclusion of slavery from the proposed new state were attended 
by serious threats to dissolve the Union. It was during this 
discussion, more than forty years before the outbreak of the 
Civil War, that a southern member of Congress uttered the 
portentous prophecy that in the agitation of the slavery question a 
fire was being kindled which could only be extinguished by blood. 

Because of what was claimed to be an unconstitutional and 
oppressive protective tariff, advantageous to the manufacturing 
states of the North and East and disadvantageous to the agri- 
cultural interests of the South and West, several states in the 
cotton-growing belt of the Union threatened to nullify the laws 
of the federal government, while South Carolina went so far as 
to declare the "tariff acts null, void, and no law, nor binding 
upon that state, its officers, or citizens." She seriously purposed 
to withdraw from the Union, and within her borders prepared 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 193 

to resist by force the administration of the national laws. Com- 
munities in the North repeatedly, violently, and even boastfully, 
opposed the local enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 
and in turn were justly chargeable with practical nullification of 
federal statutes. The fires of sectional hate fed on that which 
was designed to extinguish them. 

The culmination of events, in i860, brought the country to 
the verge of a crisis that seriously threatened the very existence 
of the Union. The South, unified by an appeal to endangered 
property interests in chattel slaves, estimated at more than two 
thousand millions of dollars, and the apparition of the hideous 
ghost of a servile insurrection, invoked the doctrine of state 
sovereignty and the asserted constitutional right of withdrawal 
from the Union as its way of escape from what it believed to be 
impending calamities. It claimed that "any state whenever 
this shall be its sovereign will and pleasure may secede from the 
Union in accordance with the Constitution and without any 
violation of the constitutional rights of the other members of the 
Confederacy; that as each became parties to the Union by votes 
of its own people assembled in convention, so any one of them 
may still retire from the Union in a similar manner, by the vote 
of such convention." 

In opposition to this contention so long and so stoutly main- 
tained, Mr. Lincoln, when he came to the presidency, held, that 
"in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the 
union of these states is perpetual;" that "perpetuity is implied 
if not expressed in the fundamental law of all national govern- 
ments; that no government ever had a provision in its organic 
law for its own termination." The logical conclusion drawn 
from these syllogistically stated propositions was that no state 
can lawfully go out of the Union if by so doing it imperils the 
existence or the integrity of the general government. Upon 
these two points of contention the issue between the sections 
was made up and fairly joined. 



194 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

There was, however, another exceedingly important question 
involved in the controversy. That was whether if a state should 
secede the constitutional right inhered in the general govern- 
ment to compel by force such state to remain in the Union against 
its will. Upon this point men of the highest intelligence and of 
unquestioned patriotism and loyalty to the government differed 
in opinion. Many in the North beHeved with President 
Buchanan who, while disclaiming the right of a state to secede, 
declared it as his deUberate opinion that no power has been 
delegated to Congress or to any other department of the federal 
government to coerce a state into submission which is attempting 
to withdraw or actually has withdrawn from the confederacy. 
Congress, he said, might preserve the Union by conciliation, 
but the sword was not placed in its hands to preserve it by force. 
These views, expressed by the official head of the nation in a 
message to Congress so late as December, i860, undoubtedly 
served for the time being to divide the North and to unify and 
strengthen the South in the already largely preponderating 
opinion entertained in that section against the constitutional 
right of coercion. 

In the secession of certain of the southern states and their 
organization into a confederacy; in the seizure of United States 
property, as forts, arsenals, custom houses, mints, and post- 
offices, and their appropriation by the individual states or the 
confederacy of states, and finally in the premeditated and care- 
fully planned assault on Fort Sumter, men saw that the time 
for argument, for conciliation, and for compromise had passed 
and the time for battle had come. The shots that echoed across 
the waters of Charleston harbor in the gray dawn of that April 
morning in 1861 awoke the nation from the repose of peace to 
the realization of war. In that momentous hour one supreme 
question challenged every loyal American, "The federal Union, 
shaU it be preserved ?" Upon the issue involved in that question 
Lincoln made his appeal to the country and in response to that 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 195 

appeal an aggregate of more than twenty-two hundred thousand 
men came forth, representing the incarnated spirit of the nation's 
purpose to preserve and transmit unimpaired that which the 
fathers had bequeathed. 

Important questions, some of which had been in dispute 
since the founding of the government and which neither minis- 
ters, nor publicists, nor statesmen, nor jurists, nor cabinets, nor 
presidents could peacefully and permanently settle, were now 
submitted to the arbitrament of arms. It is not necessary at 
this time and in this place to detail the story of the mighty con- 
flict, nor to institute a comparison between the sections. It is 
enough for both the North and the South to know that the issues 
that so long disturbed the tranquillity and menaced the peace 
and permanency of the republic were unalterably settled by the 
war of 1861-65. By that war once and for all time it was deter- 
mined that the federal Constitution is the supreme law of the 
land; that the first allegiance of every citizen of the republic is 
to the national rather than to a state government ; that nullifica- 
tion as an assumed reserved right of the states is eliminated as 
a factor from the problem of American poHtics ; that within the 
limits of the Constitution the federal Supreme Court shall be 
ever3rwhere recognized as the ultimate authority in the con- 
struction of law, and that the law as so construed must be obeyed 
by all alike until changed by constitutional and not revolutionary 
methods; that in the relations existing between the national and 
the several state governments, the latter are integral but sub- 
ordinate parts of which the former is the one supreme and in- 
dissoluble whole ; that if any state attempts to, or actually does, 
withdraw from the Union, the constitutional authority not only 
inheres in but the duty is enjoined upon the general government 
to compel such state, by force if necessary, to remain in and to 
resume its rightful and normal relations. That war determined 
that, wherever the flag of our country floats in undisputed author- 
ity, there slavery or involuntary servitude except for the punish- 



196 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

ment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted 
shall be forever prohibited. When the war closed it was settled 
that the government of the United States of America was not a 
mere confederacy but "an indestructible union of indestructible 
states." 

In view of these universally recognized and conceded results, 
the heroic dead, whose patriotic sacrifice we this day commemo- 
rate, did not die in vain, and the living, maimed and broken in 
health, who still abide among us, have not suffered without 
recompense. Every sincere lover of his country can but rejoice 
in the fact that the feelings of sectional hate, engendered by 
many years of embittered controversy culminating in the fierce 
strife of civil war, have passed from the hearts and no longer 
find expression upon the lips of men, and that where war and 
malice once held sway peace and good-will are enthroned. 



CAMPUS ILLUMINATION 
RECEPTION 

PROMENADE CONCERT 
THURSDAY EVENING 



THE ILLUMINATION 

The evening of Thursday was given over to the student body. 
Under the magic of innumerable electric lamps which outlined 
all the principal buildings and which, half hidden by Japanese 
lanterns, stretched hither and far along Faculty Row and many 
other walks, the campus became a veritable fairyland. 

AU the young men of the student body, in white capes and 
leggins, and carrying flaming torches, gathered in front of Wells 
Hall, and after an intricate march about the campus, seated 
themselves on the grass in front of the Women's Building, so 
as to form the letters M. A. C. Here the young women of the 
College, coming from the building, after an involved fancy march 
called the "Oak Chain," formed the letters M. A. C. Then 
joined by the men, they indulged for an hour in roUicking college 
songs. The music finished, all of the student body, together 
with 10,000 visitors, crossed the campus to Wells Hall. In 
front of this building tar barrels and other inflammable material 
had been piled to the height of thirty feet, and after a great 
circle had been formed the bonfire was kindled. Under its 
brilliant light the students marched about in a circle, singing 
songs and enjoying themselves as only college students out for 
a lark are capable of doing. 



THE RECEPTION 

At nine o'clock a reception to the delegates, alumni, and 
friends of the College was given in the College Armory. In the 
receiving line were President and Mrs. Snyder, Governor and 
Mrs. Warner, President Monroe of the State Board of Agri- 
culture, and Mrs. Monroe, and President Angell of Michigan 
State University. 

199 



200 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Until well toward midnight the old Armory was happy with 
the hearty greetings of friends who had not met perhaps for 
years, and was brilliant with electric lights, with beautiful gowns, 
with smihng faces, and with the cordial good cheer of the entire 
company. 



THE PROMENADE CONCERT 

During the same hour a promenade concert was in progress 
in the Assembly Tent, given by the Bach Orchestra of Milwaukee. 
The great tent was crowded throughout the rendition of the very 
enjoyable program given below : 

PROMENADE CONCERT PROGRAM 

1. Grand March from Tannhauser . . . Wagner 

2. Overture, Jubilee ..... Chr. Bach 

3. Selection from Ernani ..... Verdi 

4. Solo for Cornet 

5. Concert Waltz, "Bel uns z' Haus' 

6. Overture to Maritana . 

7. Largo .... 



Strauss 
Wallace 
Handel 
Tobani 
Till 
Chr. Bach 



8. Philharmonic Echoes . 

9. Serenade for Flute and Horn , 
10. Agricultural College March 

Between the musical numbers portraits of groups of stu- 
dents taken years ago, and portraits of famous alumni and of 
well-known faculty members, together with reproductions of the 
college buildings of the past and present, were thrown on a 
great screen, and were especially enjoyed by the alumni who 
were present. 



JUBILEE EXERCISES 
FRIDAY MORNING 



THREE THINGS LAST CENTURY 



SECRETARY JAMES WILSON 



It has been said that the United States did three unique 
things in the last century. It built at Washington the Capitol, 
the Washington Monument, and the Congressional Library, 
each the finest of its kind in the world. A much grander work 
was the laying of the foundation of agricultural education and 
research to prepare the farmer for his life-work, establish agri- 
cultural hterature, and Kft the tiller of the soil to a higher level of 
efficiency as a producer and a citizen. No country on earth has 
such a comprehensive system to bring about these results. The 
total number of land-grant colleges is 65, and 63 of these give 
courses in agriculture which are attended by 10,000 students. 
These colleges are also largely engaged in giving instruction in 
agriculture to adult farmers in the farmers' institutes which are 
annually attended by over one million farmers. These institu- 
tions have permanent funds and equipment amounting to 
$84,000,000 and an annual revenue of $14,500,000, to which the 
federal government contributes $3,000,000 and the state govern- 
ments $7,500,000. 

The work is telling in many ways. Young people go to these 
institutions who would not go to any other. There is a great 
demand at home and abroad for young people educated along 
these lines. The brightest farm boys and girls are being edu- 
cated for the farm. It is the most dehghtful and comprehensive 
study of material things to which the mind can be applied. 

FEDERAL AND STATE WORK 

There has been steady progress during the half-century that 
marks the work of the Michigan Agricultural College. Con- 

303 



204 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

gress has endowed educational and research institutions in the 
states and territories. The federal government has co-operated 
with the states, and operated where the work was interstate. 
The movement to educate the producer has reached the problem 
of primary and secondary education, so that the young farmer 
may be turned toward the study of the elements of the sciences 
that are to have his future attention. These combined efforts 
will result in making household words of what is now taught in 
college. Discussions of climates, soils, movements of moisture, 
plants and their improvement, animals and their antecedents, 
trees and their value, sanitation and its application, will all be- 
come familiar to the educated farmer's family. 

NEED OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES 

Suppose each of the gentlemen invited here to rejoice with 
the Michigan Agricultural College in its day of triumph was 
asked to tell you why we need agricultural colleges, basing his 
reasons on his observations while on the way here. I would say : 
The water level is too near the surface in a large percentage of 
our best soils ; tile is not being laid deep enough — most plants 
send their roots down four or five feet seeking nutrition — the 
rootlets stop when they reach stagnant water, and only that 
depth of soil is at work for the farmer that lies above the water 
level. I see drains being laid eighteen to thirty inches deep 
that should go down to forty-eight inches at least, for reasons 
that every student in the graduating class can give, but which 
are evidently not known to farmers generally. As the science 
of soils becomes better understood, much of the draining of 
today and of the past will be done over again. 

PASTURES 

I have observed on my way here that decided improvement 
can be made in the pasture, which makes our most valuable 
crop and is our best recuperating agent. A majority of farmers 
have only one grass growing, suitable to the soil and climate. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 205 

Grasses are at their best at different seasons, then they rest for 
a time. They should supplement each other throughout the 
seasons. Many pastures have no legumes growing with the 
grasses, while all that are at home in the soil or climate should be 
under tribute. The office of the legume is well known to every- 
body here. The agricultural colleges should do demonstration 
work along such lines as pasturing and draining in all the states. 
Perhaps it should be done through other state agencies, in co- 
operation with the college faculties. We must not be content 
with research work that hits nothing, that is not applied to some- 
thing, that helps no farmer or handler of crops. Leave all that 
to abstract science. We must make good and find pots of gold at 
the ends of all our rainbows. 

PERCENTAGE OF FARMERS 

Including the population of our island possessions, half of 
the people under our flag are producers from the soil. This 
half owe it to the other to prepare themselves for discharging the 
duties of citizenship with the highest intelligence. They are 
financially able to educate, as 72 per cent, of our exports — or 
nine hundred milHons of dollars — is the price of farm products 
sold abroad annually, after supplying the home requirements. 
They have leisure and more facilities for reading and reflection 
than the other half of the people. Rural free delivery of mails, 
the telephone, the daily and farm papers, magazines, and other 
sources of information combine to form powerful adjuncts in 
the education of the farmer and his family. They are not 
organized as a class, and are not Ukely to be, but they are the 
nation's jury when questions of public policy are to be settled. 

FINE MACHINERY 

The returns from intelHgent farming are becoming more 
satisfactory as the principles that govern production are better 
understood, affording better homes and home conveniences. 
Our farmers are experts in managing fine machinery, and the 



2o6 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

crops grown by one man's efforts are astonishing. Commerce, 
manufacturing, mining, and carrjdng call help from the farm, 
and raise the price of labor. Production is hardly keeping step 
with growth of population, which results in higher prices for 
crops. Few of the immigrants coming to our country could do 
the work required on the farm. They fit into other industries 
more readily. Our agricultural colleges have broadened the 
minds and strengthened the arms of our farmers, and increased 
their efficiency. They have helped them into a class by them- 
selves among farmers and have dignified their calling. 

FARMERS IN REQUEST 

The farmer is in request when the army and navy are to be 
recruited, when the city is to be reinforced, when the professions 
need quiet nerves and capacity for study and strain, when capital 
and labor take their dispute to the polls, when a public man is to 
be weighed, and when the nation settles public questions at the 
ballot box. As a people we are quite successful in governing in 
the country, the village, the town, and in the state outside of the 
large cities. The cities perplex, the country assures. The 
better education of country folk will gradually bring into counsel 
a safe element. The future of the republic depends upon the 
intelligence and moral rectitude of the citizen. 

DEVELOPMENT OF ANIMALS 

The development of domestic animals of all kinds for various 
uses on different soils in varying chmates has hardly been begun 
in this country. We take the results of foreign breeders that 
dealt with conditions quite dissimilar from most that we find in 
this country. We must suit the animal to the pasture to reach 
the best results, and pastures vary. Each state or group of 
states will eventually learn by experience what animal will be 
most profitable. No other country on earth has as much capital 
invested in animals as we have. We look after their health and 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 207 

the excellence of their products, but we have done little to im- 
prove them. 

RURAL EDUCATION 

Do not understand me that I would limit the education of 
rural families to material affairs — to the getting of "bread and 
butter," as some thoughtless men in prominent places term 
agricultural education. Man's responsibility to God and to his 
fellow-man is now being impressed upon young and old, in 
country and village and town, by the grandest organization of 
churches and Sabbath schools known to any people, where man's 
nobler nature is being stimulated and developed with infinite 
pains and at such expense as we are never likely to see devoted 
to material things. Highly enlightened society, as we have it, 
requires liberal incomes. Good farming is the basis of bank 
accounts in our country. Fill the pupil's stomach before you 
teach altruism, and see that the teacher has had beefsteak for 
breakfast. One of the most praiseworthy lines of work being 
done at our agricultural colleges is the training of young women 
in what pertains to themselves and others, including domestic 
economy, sanitation, nutrition, ventilation, and correct living, 
resulting in the American girl, unique, unequaled, perfect. 



FOR MICHIGAN AND ITS UNIVERSITY 



PRESIDENT JAMES BURRILL ANGELL 



It is with pleasure that I come to bring the cordial salutations 
of the University of Michigan to the Agricultural College on this 
glad day. The relations between the two institutions have 
always been most friendly. The University has furnished two 
able presidents to the College, President Fiske, and Presi- 
dent WiUits, whose administrations form important chap- 
ters in your history. Not to speak of those younger teachers 
who have been trained in our halls, we remember as you 
do with pride the long and conspicuous services of our gradu- 
ates, Dr. Kedzie and Dr. Beal. It would perhaps be difficult to 
name a teacher in any institution whose services have been 
more useful to Michigan than those of Dr. Kedzie; and Dr. 
Beal, we are happy to say, is still spared to continue his long and 
creditable career. Not a few of your graduates have to our great 
satisfaction come to us and won distinction in specialties which 
it was not your province to furnish. 

As you well know, in the early 50's the University authorities 
were desirous that the College should become a member of the 
University household. But the coy maiden declined our suit, 
and so we have each led a life of single blessedness. We at the 
University have often been incHned to think that it would have 
been better for both of us if we had joined our fortunes at that 
time. But we are compelled to remember that it is unprofitable 
for rejected suitors to complain, especially when the coy maiden 
has prospered so well by herself in her own household. 

Like all educational state institutions in the younger states 
this College has had her days of juvenile troubles — what I often 
compare to the mumps and measles and whooping cough in 

208 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 209 

children — but she has come well out of them all. Some forty 
years ago it fell to my lot to conduct the organization of the 
Agricultural College in Vermont in connection with the univer- 
sity. I found as our friends have sometimes found here that the 
most serious task was to convince the very class for whom these 
colleges are founded, namely, the farmers, that the institution 
had anything of value to offer to their children. The methods 
of farming were so intrenched by tradition and immemorial 
usage that any proposition to improve them by college training 
was hopelessly condemned as mere "book learning." 

I think the chief agencies in winning favor for this and for all 
similar colleges have been farmers' institutes and the experiment 
stations. By the papers and discussions in the institutes it has 
been made clear to the most conservative farmer that he has 
something to learn from others, and by the researches at the 
stations it has been demonstrated that experiments conducted 
according to the most approved scientific methods can reveal 
how to make the raising of crops or the culture of fruit or the 
breeding of animals more profitable. 

It has now become clear that even as no other industry is so 
important to us as the agricultural, so there is no industry to 
which science is able to make more valuable contributions. 
Furthermore, in studying this vexed problem, how to keep the 
bright boys on the farms, it has become apparent that one of 
the wisest things is to show them that, rightly understood, the 
most effective conduct of the farm furnishes an opportunity for 
the exercise of the highest inteUigence, enhghtened and inspired 
by the best type of theoretical and practical scientific training. 

This college has been fortunate in commanding the services 
of teachers of a high order of merit, several of whom are known 
wherever agricultural education is appreciated. Indeed, some 
of them have been so conspicuous that they have been drafted 
into the service of other institutions that pay higher salaries than 
Michigan allows herself to offer. Moreover, a good number of 



2IO MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

the graduates of this College have been gladly seized by other 
leading colleges for important positions in their faculties. I 
sometimes think that the institutions of higher education in 
Michigan are called to furnish more than their quota of brightest 
young men to colleges and universities in other states. But 
after all that is a useful function of these institutions, and we 
ought perhaps to feel proud that these graduates are so much in 
demand as teachers in all parts of our country. 

Speaking for the University of Michigan I desire to congratu- 
late this College most heartily that on its fiftieth birthday it finds 
itself guided by so competent a faculty with so efficient a presi- 
dent at the head; that it sees so many graduates by their lives 
and their influence reflecting honor upon the College and upon 
the state, and that its halls are filled by so large and so earnest a 
company of ingenuous young men and young women who are 
here training themselves for worthy and useful careers. As 
the demands upon the institution are increasing with the rapid 
growth of our population and with the more intelligent pursuit 
of agriculture, may the means not be wanting to it to make its 
future even more beneficent than has been this first half -century 
of its useful life. 



ADDRESS FOR THE EAST 



RUFUS WHITTAKER STIMSON 



GREETING 

He who on this occasion would honor Michigan Agricultural 
College would but honor himself, so high a position of dignity and 
usefulness has this institution attained among not only the sister- 
hood of the land-grant colleges, but also among all other educa- 
tional institutions. The East gladly and proudly joins all 
quarters of our country in bringing greetings and congratulations 
on this happy occasion. 

THE EAST 

The so-called French market in the foreign quarter of New 
Orleans is a unique and most attractive spot. It consists of 
roofed but open-sided pavilions. In it may be purchased 
almost everything imaginable from cut glass and cut flowers, 
laces and embroidery, to meats and fish, fruit and vegetables. 
About six months ago I arose at daybreak to visit this market, 
and came at one corner of it upon a young Creole who was 
tying up what he called vegetable bouquets. One knows a 
young onion when one sees it, and a young turnip. There were 
vegetables in those "bouquets," however, with which I was 
quite unfamiliar. After answering my inquiries, the young man 
finally turned on me with the question: 

" Not to be too inquisitive, where do you come from ? " 

"Down east — New England," I answered. 

"Oh," he exclaimed, "you don't hve in the United States!" 

"Yes," I said, "I do." 

"Ah," he queried, "the United States governs your island ?" 

In speaking for the East I need hardly say to the people 
here assembled that I speak for a land and people comprised 



212 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

within the United States, nor produce any argument to prove 
that the East has contributed a fair quota to the statesmanship 
of our country as well as to the classes of the governed. 

THE OLD HOME 

To many a man in the West, the East has for long been the 
old home — so many in the West have themselves migrated from 
the East, so many are the sons or daughters of eastern parents 
now settled in the newer country. When the institution I have 
the honor of serving issued the first booklet of its summer school 
for teachers, copies found their way here. It was most interest- 
ing to observe the instant response of western editors. Re- 
quests immediately began to be received for the use of halftones 
or for the purchase of photographs for printing, so suggestive 
of the old home to dwellers on the prairies were the illustrations 
of the booklet. Recently we came West to the great University 
of Illinois in our search for a man for the headship of an 
important department. The man we chose was attracted by the 
great company of distinguished scholars and scientific men in 
New England whose ranks he was invited to join. Our pros- 
perity stirred him, for New England still has money to lend. 
He was also impressed by our thrifty farms, with their fertile, 
if sometimes stony, fields so closely adjacent to our magnificent 
markets. But what attracted him most of all, and what finally 
determined him to accept our offer, was the desire that his 
boys should have an opportunity for growing up among the 
brooks and the woods and the hills of New England. To move 
East would be to draw near the old home of both his wife and 
himself. Not unhke the tumult in the bosom of the foreigner, 
when he thinks of the " old country," are the feelings of affection 
in the breast of the westerner when he thinks of the old home 
in the East. 

THE EAST AND EDUCATION 

But it is not of the East in government, nor of the East as 
the old home, that I desire principally to speak. The chief 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 213 

suggestions prompted by this occasion concern the place of the 
East in education. 

If you were to visit the oldest college in our country, Harvard 
University, entering the main gate leading to University Hall 
you would find on your left old Harvard Hall, the tongue of 
whose belfry has called generation after generation of young 
men to lectures and to prayers. On your right you would find 
old Massachusetts Hall. The Old South Church, across the 
Charles in Boston, has been called the birthplace of American 
liberty. Faneuil Hall, Boston, has been called the cradle of liberty. 
In a very important sense old Massachusetts Hall might well 
be called the schoolhouse of liberty, so many succeeding classes 
of yoimg men have been schooled within its walls in the history 
and principles of American freedom. Recently a niche has 
been built into the front of this old colonial building. When 
the class of 1883 was deciding who might most appropri- 
ately occupy that spot, they chose a man who has been called 
by one of our foremost scientific men " perhaps the best poet for 
the working man," James Russell Lowell. And when the senti- 
ment to appear on the pedestal beneath the bronze bust was 
chosen, these were the words cut into the marble: 

I, Freedom, Dwell with 

Knowledge: I AsroE 
WITH Men by Culture 
Trained and Fortifeed 

On the outer gate, within a stone's throw of this new monument, 
one reads the ancient inscription that the primary object in the 
founding of Harvard College was to protect the children of the 
colonists from the legacy of "an illiterate ministry. " From the 
first moment, American freedom has been joined to knowledge ; 
men of the East have been trained and fortified by the cultivation 
of their higher and finer powers. 



214 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

The half -century marked by our celebration today is one of 
most extraordinary interest to the student of the history of 
teaching. While eradication of ignorance and development 
of personal power have been constant aims, there have been 
marvelous changes in means and methods. 

Fifty years ago there was one great slogan, ''mental disci- 
pline. " For 800 years one type of training had dominated the 
schools. The first college of our fathers was a survival of the 
Middle Ages, those twilight days one of the idiosyncrasies of 
which was a mystical reverence for the number seven. There 
were seven planets, seven metals, seven days in the week, 
"seven apertures in a man's head," seven cardinal virtues, 
seven deadly sins, seven sacraments. Growing out of a curious 
regard for elements of seven, studies had been divided into 
groups of three and four. Grammar, logic, and rhetoric had 
constituted the so-called trivium; arithmetic, geometry, astron- 
omy, and music, had made up the so-called quadrivium. And 
the education of fifty years ago, not only in colleges, but also in 
preparatory schools — education claiming for its watchword, 
"mental discipline" — was very largely of the trivium- quadri- 
vium type. 

Already, however, there were signs and portents of change. 
The names of Darwin and Wallace, Huxley and TyndaU, Louis 
Agassiz and Asa Gray were commanding attention and respect. 
That is to say, powerful influences for change were at work, 
even within the schools and colleges themselves. 

Perhaps of keenest interest to us who are met here today, 
however, are two influences which as the years have passed have 
exerted tremendous modifying power — both acting on estab- 
lished education, not from within the schools, but from the 
outside. 

It is almost exactly fifty years ago that Mr. Herbert Spencer 
put into print, and challenged the public with, this question: 
"What knowledge is of most worth?" Answering for himself 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 215 

he said : (i) That knowledge which has to do with self-preser- 
vation. The litle babe's eyes must be protected from the 
bright light lest they suflfer harm. His first steps must be guided 
lest he fall. Berries good for food he must be taught to pick, 
not berries from bushes which poison. As the years advance 
every stage of Hfe calls for special care lest the body suflfer injury. 
All things which have to do directly with self-preservation are 
of the first importance. (2) That knowledge which has to do 
indirectly with self-preservation. Here Mr. Spencer referred 
to training which develops a man's power for earning a livelihood. 
All occupational knowledge is here included. The body must 
not only be protected from harm, it also must steadily be sus- 
tained and promoted in well-being. (3) That knowledge 
which has to do with parenthood, including all training necessary 
for the creation and well-being of family life. (4) That knowl- 
edge which is conducive to social or community welfare. (5) 
Finally, that knowledge which has to do with the graces and 
refinements of life, including literature, music — fine art in all 
forms. 

Mr. Spencer's discussion was of great value owing to the 
broad scope of his treatment of education. It was unique for 
the order in which he stated the objects of knowledge and their 
relative worth. Before art and refinement he put social and 
community well-being. Before knowledge of history and poli- 
tics he put knowledge of parental functions and obHgations. 
Before all these he put that elemental knowledge which has to 
do with vocational efficiency. What gave his contribution its 
most searching pedagogic importance was his insistence on the 
relatively higher educational value of vocational knowledge for 
the average pupil in the average school, and no less for 
the average student in the average college. The school men 
could not escape his psychology nor his logic. The common 
people received his message gladly. Almost immediately his 
doctrine crossed to the continent, and there was translated into 



2i6 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

French, German, Italian, Russian, Hungarian, Danish, and 
Dutch. Simultaneously it crossed the stormy Atlantic. Few 
men had have a profounder or farther-reaching influence. 

In short, Mr. Spencer and those who espoused his views, or 
something like them, once for all protested against the domina- 
tion of the former ideal in education, that mental discipline was 
the supreme thing. Knowledge, to be of worth, must not only 
train the mind; it must also furnish it for the immediate, pressing 
practical affairs of life. 

Parallel with the scientific and philosophical treatment of 
education by Mr. Spencer came the movement which led to the 
establishment of the land-grant colleges. This also originated 
in round numbers just fifty years ago, and was a movement from 
outside the schools. It sprang from the soul of that wonderful 
farmer, blacksmith, village banker, and for many years influen- 
tial member of Congress, the late Senator Justin S. Morrill of 
Vermont. Mr. Morrill contended that Congress and the legis- 
latures of the several states should unite in furnishing a liberal 
and practical education. We should equip all young men and 
aU young women for success in life — some for usefulness in the 
learned professions, others for success in the great basic, eco- 
nomic industries. The history of the development of these land- 
grant colleges I need not here trace, so familiar with it are we all, 
and so profoundly convinced are we of the educational wisdom 
and foresight of this grandmaster of public affairs. The prac- 
tical program of Mr. Morrill, like the educational ideas of Mr, 
Spencer, met with opposition — prevailed in spite of it. The 
first Morrill bill was, as Dr. Abram Harris reminded us six years 
ago, vetoed by the gentleman-president, James Buchanan; the 
Morrill Act of 1862 was approved by the rail-splitter, Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Happily, however, as the years have passed, the new educa- 
tion and the old have been joining hands. The old college has 
affected the new, and the new college has modified the old. The 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 217 

training in the new college, Mr. Morrill said, must be liberal and 
practical. The education in the old college, the best leaders 
today are successfully maintaining, must be both practical and 
liberal. Probably no one man has exerted so powerful an in- 
fluence toward the fusion of the best in the old education and 
the new, as, during the past quarter-century, has President 
Charles William Eliot. By his advocacy of the elective system, 
he has certainly vitalized the education of the old college no less 
profoundly than the training of the new college has been vital- 
ized by the ideas of Mr. Spencer and Mr. Morrill. 

Perhaps a personal reminiscence may be pardoned, since it 
indicates better than almost anything else could do the nature 
and spirit of our modern instruction. The brother of one of 
my college mates came to Cambridge on a visit. This brother, 
as a boy, could never be made to apply himself to books. Once 
out of the grip of the compulsory-attendance law, he left school 
and learned the plumber's trade. During this visit, he went 
with us to a lecture in a course in ethics called "Philosophy 3," 
presented by Professor George Herbert Palmer. It was not 
"Philosophy 1," an elementary treatment of the subject; nor 
yet "Philosophy 2." It was a decidedly advanced course in the 
midst of which he spent that hour. Knowing the family circum- 
stances, I was exceedingly curious to learn what would be the 
effect on such a man's mind of modern Harvard, and at the close 
of the lecture I asked him how he liked it. His answer was 
almost startling: 

"That," he said, "is what I call getting right down to 
brass tacks ! " 

Harvard is typical of the best, in her aims and in her methods. 
Individual freedom achieved by cultivation, education getting 
right down to the brass tacks of living — this is the spirit today of 
education in the East. There is the fullest warrant for the 
assertion that the best college education of our time is not so 
much preparation for life, as it is a cross-section of life. 



2i8 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
GENTLEMEN OF THE OLD SCHOOL 

A few days ago at the annual luncheon of the Mount Holyoke 
Alumnae Association of New York City, President Wooley 
said: "We are in danger of filling up the blessed margins 
of quiet." She referred to the over-strenuous activities of 
the modern college girl, especially in college dramatics and 
fraternities. 

Kindred dangers are common to all our colleges, but the 
gravest, I believe, is the danger that our new college life may with- 
hold from the world the best thing which the old college con- 
tributed to it. What that something was will be suflficiently 
connoted by the simple mention of the title, ''gentlemen of the 
old school." Such citizens the old college created. 

We are too often told today that all avenues into positions of 
prominence and usefulness bear on their gates one or the other 
of two legends, "Push" or "Pull." None of the merely Philis- 
tine elements of society can here be discussed. One very real 
peril, however lurks in the path of our new education, and this, 
in conclusion, we must for a moment consider. I refer to the 
large amount of time demanded by laboratory and practice work 
in our highly technical courses, and the relatively limited amount 
of time given to that training and cultivation which frees the 
mind. 

We are in danger that our strength may become our weakness. 
The educated man today, the man who would be freed by his 
college cultivation from the trammels of ignorance and incom- 
petence, must be scrupulous to reserve for communion between 
his own soul and the best spirits of the world certain blessed 
margins of quiet. And we who are responsible for outlining 
courses of study should see to it that our institutions, east and 
west, north and south, turn out, not merely good farmers, good 
housekeepers, good mechanics, good engineers — good special- 
ists in whatever department, whether of labor, superintendence, 
instruction, or research — but, at the same time, turn out grad- 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 219 

uates who in our new day shall have a quality in their owa living 
and in their influence on society kindred to that of the gentlemen 
of the old school, the splendid college men of a ha If -century 
ago. 



FOR THE SOUTH 



PRESIDENT HENRY CLAY WHITE 



No portion of this great republic offers sincerer congratula- 
tions on this notable occasion than that for which I have the 
honor and the privilege to speak. That particular region which 
we call "the South" has abundant cause to recognize this cele- 
bration as commemorating a most important event in the history 
of this happiest and wealthiest of the nations of the earth. The 
people of the South in times past contributed their full share of 
patriotic energy to the establishment of the civic freedom which 
is the foundation of our national happiness, and, today, in 
larger relative proportions than elsewhere within our borders, 
they are devoting their intelligent endeavors to the winning of 
the great agricultural products which, at last, are the foundations 
of our national wealth. In this, the occupation of the large 
majority of our people, we, no less than our fellow-laborers 
elsewhere, have come to know that intellectual power and tech- 
nical skill are now necessary factors in its efficient and economic 
conduct. It is interesting, but not remarkable, that agriculture, 
the earliest of the industrial arts, should be the latest to which 
systematized intellectual effort should be applied. All other 
arts are, essentially, creative, agriculture alone is, or may be, 
simply directive. Before the smelter, the manufacturer, the 
builder, or the engineer proceeds about his work he must have 
intelligent appreciation of many natural laws which determine 
the effectiveness of his finished product. But plants will grow 
and cattle breed with promise of sufficient fruits to satisfy man's 
needs, with need for little else than mere mechanical tending 
at his hands. Necessity, and not choice, has, therefore, deter- 
mined the industrial fields in which man's intelligence has, 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 221 

heretofore, been chiefly sharpened in the progress of his mate- 
rial civiHzation. Moreover, an understanding of the laws of 
nature must be embodied in the canon of the sciences before 
effective appHcation of them may be made in the industrial arts. 
The processes of vegetable and animal production are largely 
biological, and biology is the youngest of the sciences. But, 
delayed as has necessarily been the really scientific practice of 
agriculture, its day has come at last, inciting to the highest order 
of intellectual endeavor and holding promise of marvelous fruits. 
Science, in appropriate form, now stands ready to serve the pur- 
poses of the husbandman and has demonstrated the ability so to 
do in abounding measure. 

The congratulations offered for the South today spring alike 
from admiration and from gratitude. The records of the years 
immediately preceding the founding of this institution show 
that many earnest and patriotic men, in many of the states, 
touched with the spirit of scientific inquiry then practically new- 
born, and dimly conscious of the need for scientific training in 
education for and fruitful employment in the industry of agri- 
culture, had striven blindly, in many diverse endeavors to relate 
properly the education of the children and the avocation of the 
people to the scientific spirit of the times. For the most part 
these endeavors were faulty in conception; in most they were 
inconsequent and vain. Provisions for teaching and applying 
the body of natural science then known for the improvement of 
agricultural practice had not, indeed, infrequently been made. 
In my own state, for instance — and I say it to her honor — three 
years before the founding of this College, a considerable dona- 
tion (the largest, I believe, then of record) had been made by a 
private citizen toward the establishment of a chair of agricultural 
chemistry in the university of the state. Similar and sporadic 
endeavors — in what was, at least, a right direction — to quicken 
the art of the husbandman by an understanding of the nature 
with which he dealt were, however, far too few and inade- 



222 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

quate for any marked impression upon the largest of all the 
industries. 

It was reserved for the men of Michigan to be the first to 
conceive in wisdom and estabhsh in strength an institution 
qualified in form and method to meet successfully the purpose of 
the founders and to serve triumphantly as the pioneer of a new 
reasonableness in education and of a great enlightenment in in- 
dustry. Undeterred by the inertia of conservatism in the school 
and on the farm; imyielding to the clamors of radical experi- 
menters in education and in industry; it has held fast consist- 
ently to the sane equihbrium of redecraft and handcraft in 
technical training and demonstrated its merits by its survival. 
To this victorious pioneer — remembering those who founded in 
wisdom and in faith, and those who guided in loyalty and zeal — 
to those who crown today, in prosperity abounding and confi- 
dence unshakable, this glad half-century of continuous, con- 
sistent, and successful endeavor, Michigan's fellow-patriots of 
the sister states of the South offer their congratulations in un- 
stinted admiration. 

To our admiration we add our gratitude. Though elder 
members of the family of states, we sisters of the South — through 
force of circumstance over which the present generation, at 
least, had no control — came into our own as full possessors of 
some features of the spirit of the age somewhat later in hf e than 
the young and lusty commonwealths to whose creation we had 
contributed. When, therefore, the belated time arrived when 
wisdom and necessity required a re-formation of our educational 
and industrial systems along other than the accustomed lines, 
we were fortunate that the experience gained in Michigan and 
the successful career of this institution pointed the way to im- 
mediate and wisest direction of certain of our efforts. The 
Michigan Agricultural College furnished us an admirable exam- 
ple by which to fashion our newly established institutions for 
industrial education, and in many instances, furnished us the 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 223 

efficient teachers with which to man them in the experimental 
days. The statesmanship of Michigan met our commendation 
in yet another way, most agreeable to our traditional conser- 
vatism and our hereditary beliefs. It was here demonstrated 
that the new education and the newly inspired industry were 
designed to supplement, not to replace the old, for here in Michi- 
gan, along with the marvelous growth of this great technical 
college, went the equally marvelous growth of that great univer- 
sity dedicated more particularly to pure science and the liberal 
arts. The quickening of industry through education did not 
diminish but increased and contributed to the appreciation and 
the valuation of the humanities and culture. It has been here 
demonstrated that, whether under one roof or locally apart, these 
twin forces of liberal and technical education may work in har- 
mony to the great and single end, the betterment of humanity. 
For what has here been done throughout these fifty years, and 
for what the doing of it has been to us, it is my great privilege to 
offer for the South today this inadequate expression of our 
admiration and our gratitude. 



FOR THE WEST 



PRESIDENT BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER 



California sends greeting to Michigan. The orange makes 
obeisance to the yellow-tasseled corn. The valleys that mediate 
between the Sierras and the great ocean reach forth their hands 
to the prairies that hold the balance between the Lakes and the 
waters that seek the GuK. The College of Agriculture at Berke- 
ley salutes its elder brother who, as pioneer, opened for it the 
first paths and cut the brush. We learned both from your 
gropings and your findings, and we thank you for both. We 
know with you what it means to labor on the frontier, and we 
share with you the blessed western experience of trying and 
risking in a virgin field, whereby to irritate and teach the self- 
satisfied composure of the East. 

The life of the nation has been continually freshened and its 
progress largely determined by the reaction upon it of men's 
experience on the frontier. This has mostly meant trouble, 
but trouble is the sine qua non of growth, and without pain there 
is no birth. After the thirteen Atlantic Coast states had become 
tolerably used to each other, and had settled down into fair 
composure, the occupation of the next row of states to the west 
produced Jackson, the new democracy, and various troubles and 
fusses. The admission of California in 1850 undid the Missouri 
Compromise which for thirty years had formed the basis of a 
truce between North and South. The settlement of Kansas and 
Nebraska in the 50's brought on the Nebraska Bill, which made 
the Civil War inevitable. The advance of agriculture into Kan- 
sas and Nebraska gave a succession of dry years in the early 
90's their power to rend and wreck the old party of Jefferson. 
And now the extension of the frontier into the Pacific has made 

224 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 225 

the question of labor unions in politics joined with that of orien- 
tal labor a rich promise and foreboding of trouble for the days 
to come. It is the reaching fingers that get the bums, but it is 
the folded arms that compose to sleep. 

In 1857 Michigan was in things cultural still the frontier, and 
the establishment here of agricultural education handed back 
a firebrand into the complacent usage of the East. To speak 
of torches tied to foxes' tails and sent into the standing grain of 
the Philistines is only an agricultural figure of speech, and in- 
competent to express the trouble and germs of trouble thereby 
infused into the entire circulatory system of all American educa- 
tion. The agricultural colleges and the state universities which 
in many states have included the colleges and have been infected 
with their spirit are a distinctive product of the West, and have 
embodied a fresh and vitally new idea of education and what it is 
all about. Centuries of separation from the life-need that begat 
it had made the mechanism of education largely a formal in- 
strument of discipline. The significance of the agricultural 
college for the whole trend of American education was its naive 
effrontery in frankly seeing for life-training a new connection with 
real life-use, and this significance exceeds, in service to the 
nation, even the weight of the benefits wrought for the tilling 
and the tiller of the soil. 

Within the fifty years that have followed upon the beginning 
of your Michigan experiment, and under the quickening influence 
of your venture and others that succeeded it, the whole nation 
of teachers has been assuming a new conception of the whole 
meaning of their task. It is coming to them, not through a 
priori reasoning, for of that they did enough before, but through 
observance and practice of your frontier venture. They now 
seem to be learning that education inheres not in what you put 
into a man, or what you hang onto a man, nor yet in sterilizing 
him, or shaving him down to a standard shape; but in giving 
him, such as he is, and such as his life-activities may be, the 



226 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

opportunity, in and through those activities, of living his h'fe 
fully and effectively and abundantly. Such education proceeds 
upon the recognition that no hypertrophy of mind or body is as 
good as plain health, that plain health is the best medicine for 
all disease, and that the normal exercise of plain life is the straight 
path to plain health. Such education will therefore address 
itself perforce to the real doings and exercises of real life, and its 
definition will be : The guided practice of life, to the end that 
men may live. 

If now, in terms of the higher learning, all this should prove 
to mean that applied science is after all the true science, what 
does it matter ? For the deeds and worth of men, the social test 
is and always will be the final test, and the uses and needs of 
man in society will in the long run form the safest guide to the 
truth we should seek, and for that matter presumably to the 
truth we can hope to find. 

So much from the side of the individual, but more from the 
side of the community; for all this means that education, which 
once made teaching, preaching, healing, and litigating the 
sacred four, is now laying its hand upon one after another of the 
activities of daily human life to dignify and uplift them, to relate 
them to reason and truth, and rescue them from sordid slavery 
to superstition, ignorance, and the rule of thumb, to the end 
that we shall call nothing, which involves a human use, common 
or unclean. 

Small matter indeed, this school for farmer boys at Lansing 
in 1857; a weird undertaking, though, and audacious, not pre- 
scribed in the books, unapproved of the elders ; but behold, the 
stone which the builders rejected, it has become the head of the 
comer ! 



FOR THE MIDDLE WEST' 



PRESIDENT EDMUND JANES JAMES 



Members and friends of the Michigan Agricultural College: 

In looking over the marvelous advance in agricultural educa- 
tion during the last fifty years you can utter the proud boast 
which Vergil put into the mouth of the great Aeneas: "Of all 
this I have been a great part." 

And this is an era not of progress in agricultural education 
alone, but in all other departments as well. For he who fancies 
that this great movement for agricultural and industrial educa- 
tion has affected only colleges of agriculture and the mechanic 
arts has greatly underestimated its real influence. It has touched 
and shaped, at more points than one, the training and equipment 
of even our oldest and best- known centers of learning. Even 
such strongholds of ancient tradition as Harvard and Yale are 
in many respects greatly different from what they would have 
been had it not been for the over-increasing strength of this 
tendency. It is in a large sense a part of a world-movement, 
bound up with the inevitable advance of the democratic spirit 
and increasing acceptance of democratic ideals. 

Higher education for the farmer and the mechanic, if it ever 
becomes general, will mean a new era, not simply in education, 
not simply in agriculture and the mechanic arts, but in the world 
of politics and civihzation. Despotism, tyranny, one-man 
power, absolutism, cannot long continue in a country in which 
the average man is in touch with the processes and ideals of 
higher education. The progress of democracy was bound to 
bring with it the demand for an ever-rising standard, not simply 

^ Read in the enforced absence of President James by Dean Eugene Daven- 
port. 

227 



228 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

of technical, but of general education as well, for the farmer and 
mechanic, and the general spread of these ideals of higher educa- 
tion will inevitably advance the cause of democracy. 

It is difficult, of course, to formulate a satisfactory philosophy 
of history. It never has been done, perhaps it can never be done 
until history is closed, when it would have but little interest for 
anybody. But certainly this great movement toward democracy 
which is characteristic of all countries, the enormous increase 
in wealth, the destruction of time and space involved in the gen- 
eral application of steam and electricity, the ever-widening scope 
of popular education, all these things have worked together, 
each upon the other, each supplementing and strengthening the 
other, to bring about that marvelous revolution which has made 
possible this development of agricultural and mechanical educa- 
tion on the one hand and which has itself been enormously 
furthered by this very education. 

The demand for special, professional education, the training 
of the farmer and the mechanic, is one which few people trained 
in the old education ever comprehended or were ever able to esti- 
mate at its true value. It has not been very long, of course, in 
this country since there was little faith in the value of special 
education on anybody's part. It was the habit, even in the sphere 
of the so-called learned professions, to insist that the best way 
for a man to learn his business was to go into practical life as 
soon as possible, or at any rate get into touch with practical life 
as closely as possible from the very beginning. The ideal of 
the physician was to have the boy get into the doctor's office as 
soon as possible and clean his horses and wash his bottles as the 
only reasonable road to learning therapy or preparing oneself 
for the practice of medicine. Entrance into a lawyer's office 
and the copying of legal documents and sweeping out of the 
office and building fires in the winter time was recognized as the 
practical method of preparing for admission to the bar. For 
neither of these professions was college education considered any 



SEMICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 229 

real necessity, and even in the case of a clergyman who was ex- 
pected in some denominationb to be an educated man, it was 
not felt that any study of divinity was necessary beyond the 
possible acquisition of an elementary knowledge of the New 
Testament in Greek. How much less could the public be ex- 
pected to insist upon a higher standard of special education for 
other classes. It is almost inconceivable to us so see how slow 
was the progress even in such a department as that of engineering 
education; remarkable to see how long it took before the general 
public was converted to the view that if a boy was looking for- 
ward to the practice of the engineering profession there were 
certain schools the completion of whose curriculum was a valu- 
able element in the preparation for this work. Even such a 
distinguished and enlightened educator as President Eliot has 
yielded to this idea of professional and special education in vari- 
ous lines only with great reluctance and only as he has been 
compelled by the actual drift of circumstances. Twenty-five 
years ago I heard him say in a public address in regard to the 
preparation of teachers that the theory of Harvard College was 
that if a man had the requisite knowledge that was all that was 
necessary. He might then acquire the actual experience as a 
teacher and he would succeed or fail according to his natural 
bent ; that there was nothing further than assistance in acquiring 
the knowledge which the university could do for the candidate 
for the teaching profession. 

We do not realize until we stop to think about it, how com- 
pletely that idea has passed away and how today the public is 
ready to accept the idea that school training is good as an ele- 
ment in the preparation for almost any calling which you can 
name. We see every day some new kind of school springing 
into existence which is intended to satisfy this demand for spe- 
cific and special preparation. 

Now this great movement for agricultural education, which 
found an expression in the organization of this institution and 



230 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

which found a larger and wider expression a short time later in 
the passage of the famous Morrill act, profited by this changed 
attitude of the public on the one hand, and it stimulated and 
quickened the acceptance of this general principle on the other. 
Now development of agricultural education has, it seems to me, 
in certain directions, outrun and is today in advance of the 
development of education in other lines, and this movement 
for agriculture and the mechanic arts has benefited all our higher 
education in several distinct and definite ways. 

In the first place, this grant from the federal government, 
seconded as it was by subsequent grants, strengthened enor- 
mously the schools which had been started in the field of agri- 
culture and provided for the establishment of an entirely new 
set of schools in states where without this assistance a generation 
or even two or three might have passed away before anything 
had been done. 

Some of our American states were not, financially speaking, 
able to establish these schools upon the requisite scale. The 
federal grant distributed as I believe wisely, on the basis not of 
population, but of the political unit, gave an impulse to the prin- 
ciple of state education, which has borne fruit in every direction. 
We see it perhaps in the most striking way in the institution 
which I represent here today, and where, upon the basis of this 
original land grant as a direct and immediate outcome of this 
thrusting, if you please, of federal contribution upon the state 
of Illinois, has been developed what wiU ultimately be one of the 
greatest centers of scientific investigation and practical training 
which the world has ever seen. I do not believe that the state 
of IlUnois would have entered upon this work for another gener- 
ation and perhaps not for two if it had not been for his grant on 
the part of the federal government. The University of the 
state of Maine represents a similar development to that of Illi- 
nois, only on a somewhat smaller scale and stretched through 
a somewhat longer period. I am sure that in the University of 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 231 

Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota, though neither insti- 
tution dated its origin from this grant, the era of active develop- 
ment and of vital activity dates from the utihzation of this federal 
grant. Now this federal grant for the improvement of educa- 
tion in agriculture and the mechanic arts was followed up some 
years later by a remarkable grant for the establishment and 
development of agricultural experiment stations. Although 
these institutions have in some cases been established separately 
from the agricultural college, yet I cannot help feeling that 
their influence has been one of the most specific and peculiar and 
remarkable forces at work in the development of this whole 
branch of education, and I do not know that I can do anything 
better to set forth my idea, even at the risk of being a little per- 
sonal, than to show how this idea has worked as a ferment in the 
institution which I represent more particularly. I take great 
pleasure in emphasizing this fact more especially because we 
happen to have had at a critical time at the head of our College 
of Agriculture a man who is an alumnus and a former member 
of the faculty of this institution, a man whom we delight to honor, 
a man for whose production, if you please, we are under great 
obligations to you, Dean Eugene Davenport. 

The establishment of the agricultural experiment station was 
the most distinct recognition on the part of the government that 
if you are going to establish higher professional education in any 
line, it must be upon thoroughgoing scientific investigation as 
the fundamental substructure, so that every man engaged in the 
work of teaching in the College of Agriculture is also engaged 
in the work of investigation, and the man who is not doing some- 
thing to quicken his subject, to add to the knowledge we have of 
it; who is not himself striving to improve, to increase our knowl- 
edge of the subject or improve the application of it, is likely to 
be an arid and unfruitful teacher. Now, I think it is not too 
much to say that in no branch of professional education today 
in this country anywhere is there such complete and full recog- 



232 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

nition of this principle of the absolute necessity of original in- 
vestigation to the highest type of professional education as in 
the field of agricultural training and agricultural education. 
Is not this a great achievement for the farmer ? Has he not in 
this respect set an example to every other profession in this 
desire to develop the great interests, social, economic, and poHti- 
cal, intrusted to his care in our social organization ? So far as I 
know there has been no such development in the field of engineer- 
ing experimentation and engineering investigation and research, 
although that forms the other side of the work of this great group 
of institutions. The federal government has not yet made an 
appropriation for the engineering experiment station as it has 
for the agricultural experiment station. It has not yet made an 
appropriation for the medical laboratory, which is the medical 
experiment station, or for the chemical laboratory, or for the 
legal seminary, which would represent the center of scientific 
investigation and research corresponding to the agricultural 
experiment station. Friends, this is a great achievement for 
the farmer. He has laid the education of this country under a 
lasting debt of obHgation. This principle which applies to 
agriculture applies to engineering exactly, applies to medicine, 
applies to law, applies to education, and yet the farmer has been 
the only one to grasp the idea and to imbed it so sohdly in the 
fundamental structure of agricultural education that there is no 
danger that we shall ever depart from it. 

The reflex influence of this upon the other departments has 
already been striking and is destined to be more striking in the 
future. The legislature of Illinois at its last session appro- 
priated the sum of $50,000 per annum for a graduate school. 
I think the most telling argument used in the support of this 
project before the legislature was the simple one that this repre- 
sented to a certain extent in other lines what the agricultural 
experiment station represented in the field of agricultural educa- 
tion and research. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBIL^TION 233 

Another way in which this great movement has influenced 
education in a beneficial way is to be found not simply in the 
underlying thought which I have already described, which seems 
to me fundamental and vital, but in the liberality with which the 
farmer has taken up this work. We are spending in the state 
of IHinois today more upon the education of the farmer, using 
that term in a large sense including the agricultural experiment 
station, than upon the education of any other class. We have 
found it easier to get money, and we pay higher average salaries 
to the men in our College of Agriculture, of the same grade of 
training and experience, than we do the men of any of the other 
colleges, because the farmer has determined not simply to lay as 
scientific and broad a foundation as I have described it, but he 
is determined to have competent men to give this instruction, 
and he recognizes that competent men cannot be had unless 
adequate salaries be paid. Furthermore, he recognizes that 
even the competent man in this modern world of education and 
research cannot do the best work unless he has adequate equip- 
ment. So our agricultural department is today the best-equipped 
department in the University of Illinois. 

The immediate and direct effect of all this is very marked in 
the wilhngness of the legislature to improve and enlarge the 
other departments of the university. I think it would have been 
a long time before the people of Illinois, under existing conditions, 
would have made reasonable appropriations for a law school, 
for example, if they had not already made them for the farmers' 
school. I am sure that we never should have obtained the 
magnificent outfit for our engineering college, if it had not been 
that the farmers' college had been adequately cared for on the 
same liberal scale. There is not a single department of our 
institution which has not benefited, in my opinion, indirectly, 
nay, directly, by this marvelous movement toward higher educa- 
tion and this youngest of all fields — a movement directed along 
the soundest and^^most^helpful lines, a movement organized in a 



234 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

certain way on a higher plane than education up to this time 
has been organized on a large scale in the country as a whole in 
any other department. 

You will see why as a university president, interested in this 
department of agricultural education only in proportion to its 
importance as a part of the general scheme of education, I real- 
ized the significance and the value of the great movement of 
which this institution is such an able exponent. We at Illinois 
are under special obligations to you of the Michigan Agricultural 
College. Eugene Davenport, the great dean of our College of 
Agriculture, Herbert Mumford, the organizer of our department 
of animal husbandry, F. R. Crane of our farm mechanics depart- 
ment, and Professor Goodenough of our mechanical engineering 
department — all these and more do we owe to you, and we are 
pleased to acknowledge the debt. 

I congratulate you upon your great past. I congratulate you 
upon your claim to having been the first in the field, upon your 
just claim that you were not only first but that you have made 
good, that you have maintained a position of leadership and 
that you propose to maintain it for the future. I congratulate 
you on the outlook of the future, and I only wish that the next 
fifty years of your life will bear out to the fullest extent the prom- 
ise of the fifty that are past. 



COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES 
FRIDAY AFTERNOON 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 237 



COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES 

After selections by the orchestra the audience of about 
2o,oco people joined in singing: 



MENDON 

Great God of Nations now to Thee 
Our h)rmn of gratitude we raise; 

With humble heart and bending knee 
We oflFer Thee oiu- song of praise. 

Thy name we bless, Almighty God, 

For all the kindness Thou hast shown 

To this fair land the pilgrims trod — 
This land we fondly call our own. 

Here freedom spreads her banner wide, 
And casts her soft and hallowed ray; 

Here Thou our fathers' steps didst guide 
In safety through their dangerous way. 

We praise Thee that the gospel's light 

Through all ovu* land its radiance sheds, 

Dispels the shades of error's night. 

And heavenly blessings round us spreads. 

Great God, preserve us in Thy fear; 

In danger still our Guardian be; 
O spread Thy truth's bright precepts here; 

Let all the people worship Thee. 



238 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

The invocation was delivered by Rev. Elisha Moore Lake, 
pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lansing, after which the 
President of the United States spoke as follows: 



THE MAN WHO WORKS WITH HIS HANDS 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of this College is an 
event of national significance, for Michigan was the first state 
in the Union to found this, the first agricultural coUege in Amer- 
ica. The nation is to be congratulated on the fact that the Con- 
gress at Washington has repeatedly enacted laws designed to aid 
the several states in establishing and maintaining agricultural 
and mechanical colleges. I greet all such colleges, through 
their representatives who have gathered here today, and bid 
them Godspeed in their work. I no less heartily invoke success 
for the mechanical and agricultural schools; and I wish to say 
that I have heard particularly good reports of the Minnesota 
Agricultural High School for the way in which it sends its grad- 
uates back to the farms to work as practical farmers. 

OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND WHAT IT LACKS 

As a people there is nothing in which we take a juster pride 
than our educational system. It is our boast that every boy or 
girl has the chance to get a school training; and we feel it is a 
prime national duty to furnish this training free, because only 
thereby can we secure the proper type of citizenship in the aver- 
age American. Our public schools and our colleges have done 
their work well, and there is no class of our citizens deserving of 
heartier praise than the men and women who teach in them. 

Nevertheless, for at least a generation we have been waking 
to the knowledge that there must be additional education be- 
yond that provided in the public school as it is managed today. 
Our school system has hitherto been well-nigh wholly lacking 
on the side of industrial training, of the training which fits a man 

239 



240 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

for the shop and the farm. This is a most serious lack, for no 
one can look at the peoples of mankind as they stand at present 
without realizing that industrial training is one of the most 
potent factors in national development. We of the United States 
must develop a system under which each individual citizen shall 
be trained so as to be effective individually as an economic unit 
and fit to be organized with his fellows, so that he and they can 
work in efficient fashion together. This question is vital to our 
future progress, and public attention should be focused upon it. 
Surely it is eminently in accord with the principles of our demo- 
cratic life that we should furnish the highest average industrial 
training for the ordinary skilled workman. But it is a curious 
thing that in industrial training we have tended to devote our 
energies to producing high-grade men at the top rather than in 
the ranks. Our engineering schools, for instance, compare 
favorably with the best in Europe, whereas we have done almost 
nothing to equip the private soldiers of the industrial army — the 
mechanic, the metal-worker, the carpenter. Indeed, too often 
our schools train away from the shop and the forge; and this 
fact, together with the abandonment of the old apprentice system, 
has resulted in such an absence of facilities for providing trained 
journeymen that in many of our trades almost all the recruits 
among the workmen are foreigners. Surely this means that 
there must be some systematic method provided for training 
young men in the trades, and that this must be co-ordinated 
with the public-school system. No industrial school can turn 
out a finished journeyman; but it can furnish the material out 
of which a finished journeyman can be made, just as an engineer- 
ing school furnishes the training which enables its graduates 
speedily to become engineers. 

We hear a great deal of the need of protecting our working- 
men from competition with pauper labor. I have very Httle 
fear of the competition of pauper labor. The nations with 
pauper labor are not the formidable industrial competitors of 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 241 

this country. What the American workingman has to fear is 
the competition of the highly skilled workingman of the countries 
of greatest industrial efficiency. By the tariff and by our immi- 
gration laws we can always protect oiurselves against the com- 
petition of pauper labor here at home ; but when we contend for 
the markets of the world we can get no protection, and we shall 
then find that our most formidable competitors are the nations 
in which there is the most highly developed business ability, 
the most highly developed industrial skill; and these are the 
qualities which we must ourselves develop. 

DIGNITY AND IMPORTANCE OF LABOR 

We have been fond as a nation of speaking of the dignity of 
labor, meaning thereby manual labor. Personally I don't think 
that we begin to understand what a high place manual labor 
should take ; and it never can take this high place unless it offers 
scope for the best type of man. We have tended to regard edu- 
cation as a matter of the head only, and the result is that a great 
many of our people, themselves the sons of men who worked with 
their hands, seem to think that they rise in the world if they get 
into a position where they do no hard manual work whatever ; 
where their hands will grow soft, and their working-clothes will 
be kept clean. Such a conception is both false and mischievous. 
There are, of course, kinds of labor where the work must be 
purely mental, and there are other kinds of labor where, under 
existing conditions, very little demand indeed is made upon the 
mind, though I am glad to say that I think the proportion of 
men engaged in this kind of work is diminishing. But in any 
healthy community, in any community with the great solid 
qualities which alone make a really great nation, the bulk of the 
people should do work which makes demands upon both the 
body and the mind. Progress cannot permanently consist in the 
abandonment of physical labor, but in the development of physi- 
cal labor so that it shall represent more and more the work of the 



242 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

trained mind in the trained body. To provide such training, to 
encourage in every vi?ay the production of the men whom it alone 
can produce, is to show that as a nation we have a true conception 
of the dignity and importance of labor. The calling of the 
skilled tiller of the soil, the calling of the skilled mechanic, should 
alike be recognized as professions, just as emphatically as the 
callings of lawyer, of doctor, or banker, merchant, or clerk. 
The printer, the electrical worker, the house painter, the foundry 
man, should be trained just as carefully as the stenographer or 
the drug clerk. They should be trained alike in head and in 
hand. They should get over the idea that to earn twelve dollars 
a week and call it "salary" is better than to earn twenty-five 
dollars a week and call it "wages." The young man who has 
the courage and the ability to refuse to enter the crowded field 
of the so-called professions and to take to constructive industry 
is almost sure of an ample reward in earnings, in health, in 
opportunity to marry early, and to establish a home with reason- 
able freedom from worry. We need the training, the manual 
dexterity, and industrial intelligence which can best be given 
in a good agricultural, or building, or textile, or watchmaking, 
or engraving, or mechanical school. It should be one of our 
prime objects to put the mechanic, the wage-worker who works 
with his hands, and who ought to work in a constantly larger 
degree with his head, on a higher plane of efficiency and reward, 
so as to increase his effectiveness in the economic world, and 
therefore the dignity, the remuneration, and the power of his 
position in the social world. To train boys and girls in merely 
literary accomplishments to the total exclusion of industrial, 
manual, and technical training tends to unfit them for industrial 
work; and in real life most work is industrial. 

The problem of furnishing well-trained craftsmen, or rather 
journeymen fitted in the end to become such, is not simple — few 
problems are simple in the actual process of their solution — and 
much care and forethought and practical common-sense will be 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 243 

needed, in order to work it out in a fairly satisfactory manner. 
It should appeal to all our citizens. I am glad that societies have 
already been formed to promote industrial education, and that 
their membership includes manufacturers and leaders of labor 
unions, educators and publicists, men of all conditions who are 
interested in education and in industry. It is such co-operation 
that offers most hope for a satisfactory solution of the question 
as to what is the best form of industrial school, as to the means 
by which it may be articulated with the public-school system, 
and as to the way to secure for the boys trained therein the 
opportunity to acquire in the industries the practical skill which 
alone can make them finished journeymen. 

THE FARMER IN RELATION TO THE WELFARE OF THE WHOLE 

COUNTRY 

There is but one person whose welfare is as vital to the wel- 
fare of the whole country as is that of the wage-worker who does 
manual labor, and that is the tiller of the soil — the farmer. If 
there is one lesson taught by history, it is that the permanent 
greatness of any state must ultimately depend more upon the 
character of its country population than upon anything else. 
No growth of cities, no growth of wealth, can make up for a loss 
in either the number or the character of the farming population. 
In the United States more than in almost any other country we 
should realize this and should prize our country population. 
When this nation began its independent existence it was as a 
nation of farmers. The towns were small and were for the most 
part mere seacoast trading and fishing ports. The chief indus- 
try of the country was agriculture, and the ordinary citizen was 
in some way connected with it. In every great crisis of the past 
a peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming 
population; and this dependence has hitherto been justified. 
But it cannot be justified in the future if agriculture is permitted 
to sink in the scale as compared with other employments. We 



244 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

cannot afford to lose that pre-eminently typical American, the 
farmer who owns his own farm. 

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING RURAL POPULATIONS 

Yet it would be idle to deny that in the last half -century there 
has been in the eastern half of our country a falling off in the rela- 
tive condition of the tillers of the soil, although signs are multiply- 
ing that the nation has waked up to the danger and is preparing to 
grapple effectively with it. East of the Mississippi and north 
of the Ohio and the Potomac there has been on the whole an 
actual shrinkage in the number of the farming population since 
the Civil War. In the states of this section there has been a 
growth of population — in some an enormous growth — but 
the growth has taken place in the cities, and especially in the 
larger cities. This has been due to certain economic factors, 
such as the extension of railroads, the development of machinery, 
and the openings for industrial success afforded by the unprece- 
dented growth of cities. The increased facility of communi- 
cation has resulted in the withdrawal from rural communities of 
most of the small, widely distributed manufacturing and com- 
mercial operations of former times, and the substitution therefor 
of the centralized commercial and manufacturing industries of 
the cities. 

The chief offset to the various tendencies which have told 
against the farm has hitherto come in the rise of the physical 
sciences and their application to agricultural practices or to the 
rendering of country conditions more easy and pleasant. But 
these countervailing forces are as yet in their infancy. As com- 
pared with a few decades ago, the social or community life of 
country people in the East compares less well than it formerly 
did with that of the dwellers in cities. Many country communi- 
ties have lost their social coherence, their sense of community 
interest. In such communities the country church, for instance, 
has gone backward, both as a social and a religious factor. Now, 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 245 

we cannot insist too strongly upon the fact that it is quite as 
unfortunate to have any social as any economic falling off. It 
would be a calamity to have our farms occupied by a lower type 
of people than the hard-working, self-respecting, independent, 
and essentially manly men and womanly women who have hither- 
to constituted the most typically American, and on the whole the 
most valuable element in our entire nation. Ambitious native- 
born young men and women who now tend away from the farm 
must be brought back to it, and therefore they must have social 
as well as economic opportunities. Everything should be done 
to encourage the growth in the open farming country of such 
institutional and social movements as will meet the demand of 
the best type of farmers. There should be libraries, assembly 
halls, social organizations of all kinds. The school building and 
the teacher in the school building should, throughout the country 
districts, be of the very highest type, able to fit the boys and 
girls not merely to live but thoroughly to enjoy and to make 
the most of the country. The country church must be revived. 
All kinds of agencies, from rural free delivery to the bicycle and 
the telephone, should be utilized to the utmost; good roads 
should be favored; everything should be done to make it easier 
for the farmer to lead the most active and effective intellectual, 
political, and economic life. 

There are regions of large extent where all this, or most of this, 
has already been reaHzed; and while this is perhaps especially 
true of great tracts of farming coimtry west of the Mississippi, 
with some of which I have a fairly intimate personal knowledge, 
it is no less true of other great tracts of country east of the Missis- 
sippi. In these regions the church and the school flourish as 
never before ; there is a more successful and more varied farming 
industry; the social advantages and opportunities are greater 
than ever before ; life is fuller, happier, more useful; and though 
the work is more effective than ever, and in a way quite as hard, 
it is carried on so as to give more scope for well-used leisure. 



246 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

My plea is that we shall all try to make more nearly universal 
the conditions that now obtain in the most favored localities. 

PROGRESS rN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE 

Nothing in the way of scientific work can ever take the place 
of business management on a farm. We ought all of us to teach 
ourselves as much as possible; but we can also all of us learn 
from others ; and the farmer can best learn how to manage his farm 
even better than he now does by practice, under intelligent super- 
vision on his own soil in such a way as to increase his income. 
This is the kind of teaching which has been carried on in Texas, 
Louisiana, and Arkansas by Doctor Knapp, of the national 
Department of Agriculture. But much has been accomphshed by 
the growth of what is broadly designated as agricultural science. 
This has been developed with remarkable rapidity during the 
last quarter of a century, and the benefit to agriculture has been 
great. As was inevitable, there was much error and much 
repetition of work in the early application of money to the needs 
of agricultural colleges and experiment stations aUke by the 
nation and the several states. Much has been accomphshed; 
but much more can be accomplished in the future. The prime 
need must always be for real research, resulting in scientific 
conclusions of proved soundness. Both the farmer and the 
legislature must beware of invariably demanding immediate 
returns from investments in research efforts. It is probably 
one of our faults as a nation that we are too impatient to wait a 
sufficient length of time to accompHsh the best results; and in 
agriculture effective research often, although not always, involves 
slow and long-continued effort if the results are to be trust- 
worthy. While appUed science in agriculture as elsewhere must 
be judged largely from the standpoint of its actual return in 
dollars, yet the farmers no more than anyone else can afford to 
ignore the large results that can be enjoyed because of broader 
knowledge. The farmer must prepare for using the knowledge 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 247 

that can be obtained through agricultural colleges by insisting 
upon a constantly more practical curriculum in the schools in 
which his children are taught. He must not lose his independ- 
ence, his initiative, his rugged self-sufficiency; and yet he must 
learn to work in the heartiest co-operation with his fellows. 

EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE 

The corner stones of our unexampled prosperity are, on the 
one hand, the production of raw material, and its manufacture 
and distribution on the other. These two great groups of sub- 
jects are represented in the national government principally by 
the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Com- 
merce and Labor. The production of raw material from the 
surface of the earth is the sphere in which the Department of 
Agriculture has hitherto achieved such notable results. Of all 
the executive departments there is no other, not even the Post- 
Office, which comes into more direct and beneficent contact 
with the daily life of the people than the Department of Agri- 
culture, and none whose yield of practical benefits is greater in 
proportion to the public money expended. 

But great as its services have been in the past, the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has a still larger field of usefulness ahead. 
It has been dealing with growing crops. It must hereafter deal 
also with living men. Hitherto agricultural research, instruc- 
tion, and agitation have been directed almost exclusively toward 
the production of wealth from the soil. It is time to adopt in 
addition a new point of view. Hereafter another great task 
before the national Department of Agriculture and the similar 
agencies of the various states must be to foster agriculture for 
its social results, or, in other words, to assist in bringing about 
the best kind of life on the farm for the sake of producing the 
best kind of men. The government must recognize the far- 
reaching importance of the study and treatment of the problems 



248 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

of farm life, alike from the social and the economic standpoints; 
and the federal and state departments of agriculture should 
co-operate at every point. 

The farm grows the raw material for the food and clothing of 
all our citizens; it supports directly almost half of them; and 
nearly half the children of the United States are born and brought 
up on farms. How can the life of the farm family be made less 
solitary, fuller of opportunity, freer from drudgery, more com- 
fortable, happier, and more attractive ? Such a result is most 
earnestly to be desired. How can life on the farm be kept on the 
highest level, and where it is not already on that level, be so 
improved, dignified, and brightened as to awaken and keep alive 
the pride and loyalty of the farmer's boys and girls, of the farm- 
er's wife, and of the farmer himself ? How can a compelling 
desire to live on the farm be aroused in the children that are bom 
on the farm ? All these questions are of vital importance, not 
only to the farmer, but to the whole nation; and the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture must do its share in answering them. 

The drift toward the city is largely determined by the superior 
social opportunities to be enjoyed there, by the greater vividness 
and movement of city life. Considered from the point of view 
of natural efficiency, the problem of the farm is as much a prob- 
lem of attractiveness as it is a problem of prosperity. It has 
ceased to be merely a problem of growing wheat and corn and 
cattle. The problem of production has not ceased to be funda- 
mental, but it is no longer final; just as learning to read and 
write and cipher are fundamental, but are no longer the final 
ends of education. We hope ultimately to double the average 
yield of wheat and corn per acre ; it will be a great achievement ; 
but it is even more important to double the desirability, comfort, 
and standing of the farmer's life. 

We must consider, then, not merely how to produce, but also 
how production affects the producer. In the past we have given 
but scant attention to the social side of farm life. We should 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 249 

study much more closely than has yet been done the social organi- 
zation of the country, and inquire whether its institutions are 
now really as useful to the farmer as they should be, or whether 
they should not be given a new direction and a new impulse, 
for no farmer's life should lie merely within the boundary of his 
farm. This study must be of the East and the West, the North 
and the South; for the needs vary from place to place. 

First in importance, of course, comes the effort to secure the 
mastery of production. Great strides toward this end have 
already been taken over the larger part of the United States; 
much remains to be done, but much has been done; and the 
debt of the nation to the various agencies of agricultural im- 
provement for so great an advance is not to be overstated. But 
we cannot halt here. The benefits of high social organization 
include such advantages as ease of communication, better 
educational facilities, increased comfort of living, and those 
opportunities for social and intellectual life and intercourse, 
of special value to the young people and to the women, which 
are as yet chiefly to be had in centers of population. All this 
must be brought within the reach of the farmers who live on the 
farms, of the men whose labor feeds and clothes the towns and 
cities. 

BENEFITS RESULTING FROM CO-OPERATION 

Farmers must learn the vital need of co-operation with one 
another. Next to this comes co-operation with the government 
and the government can best give its aid through associations of 
farmers rather than through the individual farmer; for there is 
no greater agricultural problem than that of delivering to the 
farmer the large body of agricultural knowledge which has been 
accumulated by the national and state governments and by the 
agricultural colleges and schools. Nowhere has the govern- 
ment worked to better advantage than in the South, where the 
work done by the Department of Agriculture in connection with 
the cotton growers of the southwestern states has been phenom- 



250 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

enal in its value. The farmers in the region affected by the 
boll weevil, in the course of the efforts to fight it, have succeeded 
in developing a most scientific husbandry, so that in many 
places the boll weevil became a blessing in disguise. Not only did 
the industry of farming become of very much greater economic 
value in its direct results, but it became immensely more interest- 
ing to thousands of families. The meetings at which the new 
subjects of interest were discussed grew to have a distinct social 
value, while with the farmers were joined the merchants and 
bankers of the neighborhood. It is needless to say that every 
such successful effort to organize the farmer gives a great stim- 
ulus to the admirable educational work which is being done in 
the southern states, as elsewhere, to prepare young people for an 
agricultural life. It is greatly to be wished that the communities 
whence these students are drawn and to which they either return 
or should return, could be co-operatively organized; that is, 
that associations of farmers could be organized, primarily for 
business purposes, but also with social ends in view. This 
would mean that the returned students from the institutions 
of technical learning would find their environment prepared 
to profit to the utmost by the improvements in technical meth- 
ods which they had learned. 

The people of our farming regions must be able to combine 
among themselves as the most efficient means of protecting 
their industry from the highly organized interests which now 
surround them on every side. A vast field is open for work by 
co-operative associations of farmers in dealing with the relation 
of the farm to transportation and to the distribution and manu- 
facture of raw materials. It is only through such combination 
that American farmers can develop to the fuU their economic 
and social power. Combination of this kind has, in Denmark, 
for instance, resulted in bringing the people back to the land, 
and has enabled the Danish peasant to compete in extraordinary 
fashion, not only at home but in foreign countries, with all rivals. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 251 

KIND OF EDUCATION NEEDED 

Agricultural colleges and farmers' institutes have done much 
in instruction and inspiration; they have stood for the nobility 
of labor and the necessity of keeping the muscles and the brain 
in training for industry. They have developed technical depart- 
ments of high practical value. They seek to provide for the 
people on the farms an equipment so broad and thorough as to 
fit them for the highest requirements of our citizenship ; so that 
they can establish and maintain country homes of the best type 
and create and sustain a country civilization more than equal to 
that of the city. The men they train must be able to meet the 
strongest business competition, at home or abroad, and they can 
do this only if they are trained, not alone in the various lines of 
husbandry, but in successful economic management. These 
colleges, like the state experiment stations, should carefully 
study and make knov^n the needs of each section, and should try 
to provide remedies for what is wrong. 

The education to be obtained in these colleges should create 
as intimate relationship as is possible between the theory of 
learning and the facts of actual life. Educational establish- 
ments should produce highly trained scholars, of course ; but in 
a country like ours, where the educational establishments are so 
numerous, it is folly to think that their main purpose is to pro- 
duce these highly trained scholars. Without in the least dis- 
paraging scholarship and learning — on the contrary, while giving 
hearty and ungrudging admiration and support to the compara- 
tively few whose primary work should be creative scholarship — 
it must be remembered that the ordinary graduate of our colleges 
should be and must be, primarily, a man and not a scholar. 
Education should not confine itself to books. It must train 
executive power and try to create that right public opinion which 
is the most potent factor in the proper solution of all political 
and social questions. Book-learning is very important, but it 
is by no means everything; and we shall never get the right idea 



252 MICfflGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

of education until we definitely understand that a man may be 
well trained in book-learning and yet, in the proper sense of the 
word and for all practical purposes, be utterly uneducated; 
while a man of comparatively little book-learning may, never- 
theless, in essentials have a good education. 

IMPROVEMENT OF CONDITIONS AFFECTING COUNTRY LIFE 

It is true that agriculture in the United States has reached a 
very high level of prosperity ; but we cannot afford to disregard 
the signs which teach us that there are influences operating 
against the establishment or retention of our country life upon 
a really sound basis. The overextensive and wasteful cultiva- 
tion of pioneer days must stop and give place to a more econom- 
ical system. Not only the physical but the ethical needs of the 
people of the country districts must be considered. In our 
country life there must be social and intellectual advantages as 
well as a fair standard of physical comfort. There must be in 
the country, as in the town, a multiplication of movements for 
intellectual advancement and social betterment. We must try 
to raise the average of farm Hfe, and we must also try to develop 
it so that it shall offer exceptional chances for the exceptional 
man. 

Of course the essential things after all are those which concern 
all of us as men and women, no matter whether we Uve in the 
town or the country, and no matter what our occupations may 
be. The root problems are much the same for all of us, widely 
though they may differ in outward manifestation. The most 
important conditions that tell for happiness within the home are 
the same for the town and the country; and the relations between 
employer and employee are not always satisfactory on the farm 
any more than in the factory. All over the country there is a 
constant complaint of paucity of farm labor. Without attempting 
to go into all the features of this question I would Uke to point out 
that you can never get the right kind, the best kind, of labor if 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 253 

you offer employment only for a few months, ioi no man worth 
anything will permanently accept a system which leaves him 
in idleness for half the year. 

A WORD REGARDING THE FARMER'S FAMILY 

And most important of all, I want to say a special word on 
behalf of the one who is too often the very hardest worked laborer 
on the farm — the farmer's wife. Reform, like charity, while it 
should not end at home, should certainly begin there; and the 
man, whether he lives on a farm or in a town, who is anxious to see 
better social and economic conditions prevail through the coun- 
try at large, should be exceedingly careful that they prevail first 
as regards his own womankind. I emphatically believe that 
for the great majority of women the really indispensable industry 
in which they should engage is the industry of the home. There 
are exceptions of course ; but exactly as the first duty of the nor- 
mal man is the duty of being the home maker, so the first duty 
of the normal woman is to be the home keeper; and exactly as no 
other learning is as important for the average man as the learning 
which will teach him how to make his livelihood, so no other 
learning is as important for the average woman as the learning 
which will make her a good housewife and mother. But this 
does not mean that she should be an overworked drudge. I 
have hearty sympathy with the movement to better the condition 
of the average tiller of the soil, of the average wage worker, and I 
have an even heartier sympathy and applause for the movement 
which is to better the condition of their respective wives. There 
is plenty that is hard and rough and disagreeable in the necessary 
work of actual life; and under the best circumstances, and no 
matter how tender and considerate the husband, the wife will 
have at least her full share of work and worry and anxiety; 
but if the man is worth his salt he will try to take as much as 
possible of the burden off the shoulders of his helpmate. There 
is nothing Utopian in the movement ; all that is necessary is to 



254 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

strive toward raising the average, both of men and women, to 
the level on which the highest type of family now stands, among 
American farmers, among American skilled mechanics, among 
American citizens generally ; for in all the world there is no 
better and healthier home life, no finer factory of individual 
character, nothing more representative of what is best and most 
characteristic in American life than that which exists in the higher 
type of American family; and this higher type of family is to be 
found everywhere among us, and is the property of no special 
group of citizens. 

The best crop is the crop of children ; the best products of the 
farm are the men and women raised thereon; and the most in- 
structive and practical treatises on farming, necessary though 
they be, are no more necessary than the books, which teach us our 
duty to our neighbor, and above all to the neighbor who is of our 
own household. You young men and women of the agricultural 
and industrial colleges and schools — and, for that matter, you 
who go to any college or school — must have some time for light 
reading ; and there is some light reading quite as useful as heavy 
reading, provided, of course, that you do not read in a spirit 
of mere vacuity. Aside from the great classics, and thinking 
only of the many healthy and stimulating books of the day, it 
is easy to pick out many which can really serve as tracts, because 
they possess what many avowed tracts and treatises do not, the 
prime quaHty of being interesting. You will learn the root 
principles of self-help and helpfulness toward others from Mrs. 
Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, just as much as from any formal 
treatise on charity; you will learn as much sound social and 
industrial doctrine from Octave Thanet's stories of farmers and 
wageworkers as from avowed sociological and economic studies; 
and I cordially recommend the first chapter of Aunt Jane of 
Kentucky for use as a tract in all famihes where the men folks 
tend to selfish or thoughtless or overbearing disregard of the 
rights of their womankind. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 255 

Do not misunderstand me. I have not the sHghtest sym- 
pathy with those hysterical and fooHsh creatures who wish women 
to attain to easy Hves by shirking their duties. I have as hearty 
a contempt for the woman who shirks her duty of bearing and 
rearing the children, of doing her full housewife's work, as I 
have for the man who is an idler, who shirks his duty of earning 
a living for himself and for his children, or who is selfish or 
brutal toward his wife and children. I believe in the happiness 
that comes from the performance of duty, not from the avoidance 
of duty. But I believe also in trying, each of us, as strength is 
given us, to bear one another's burdens; and this especially 
in our own homes. No outside training, no co-operation, no 
government aid or direction can take the place of a strong and 
upright character ; of goodness of heart combined with clearness 
of head, and that strength and toughness of fiber necessary to 
wring success from a rough work-a-day world. Nothing out- 
side of home can take the place of home. The school is an 
invaluable adjunct to the home, but it is a wretched substitute 
for it. The family relation is the most fundamental, the most 
important of all relations. No leader in church or state, in 
science or art or industry, however great his achievement, takes 
the place of the mothers, "who are the first of sovereigns and the 
most divine of priests." 



CONFERRING OF DEGREES 



Following President Roosevelt's address, Professor Warren 
Babcock formally announced the completion of their college 
work by the following persons, ninety-six in number : 



Allen, W. B., e 
Andrews, Helen, w 
Angell, Anna, w 
Angell, I. D., e 
Ashley, Helen, w 
Bailey, Eva, v) 
Baker, J. L., a 
Beckwith, H. R., a 
Benham, Rachel, w 
Boulard, E. N., a 
Brass, L. C, e 
Brown, G. A., a 
Brown, H. L., a 
Burley, G. A., e 
Button, J. C, a 
Cade, C. M., e 
Campbell, B. G., e 
Canfield, R. S., e 
Carpenter, A. J., e 
Clise, B. B., a 
Craig, Myrtle, w 
DeLange, W. W., e 
Delzell, Ruth E., w 
Borland, L. R.,/ 
Doty, S. W., a 
Dudley, G. C, e 
Ellis, D. H., a 
Ellis, George H., e 
Fowler, E. C, a 
Gasser, W. W., e 
Glazier, H. I., e 
Goetz, C. H.,/ 



CLASS OF 1907 
Goldsmith, D. R., e 
Goldsmith, P. V., a 
Gould, F. A., e 
Granger, C. M.,/ 
Gregg, O. I., a 
Grover, E. L., o 
Hart, W. L., o 
Hayden, L. N., e 
Hayes, G. B., e 
Heinrich, G. A., e 
Hitchcock, L. B., e 
Hitchcock, W. W., e 
Hudson, R. S., a 
Johnson, M. F., e 
Johnson, W. E., e 
Kinney, Inez M., w 
Elramer, H. T., e 
Kratz, O. A., e 
Elrause, E. J., a 
Krentel, Calla, w 
Lilly, S. B., e 
Liverance, W. B., a 
McHatton, T. H., a 
McNaughton, C. P., a 
Martin, L. Belle, w 
Miller, Violet, w 
Minard, R. F., e 
Moomaw, D., e 
Myers, J. L., e 
Palacio, A. G., a 
Parsons, I. E., a 



Pennell, R. L., a 
Perry, N. C, a 
Piper, W. E., e 
Pokorny, Ida, Mrs., w 
Post, O. C, e 
Pratt, A. C, e 
Rinkle, L. G., a 
Robinson, E. P., a, 
Roby, Edith, w 
Rounds, Florence, w 
Rowe, C. L., e 
Seller, R., e 
Shuttleworth, P. H., a 
Smith, G. W., a 
Smith, L. E., e 
Stewart, B. C, e 
Stone, H. G., a 
Taylor, E. H., e 
Thatcher, F. E. N., e 
Towne, E. A., e 
Towner, A. A., o 
Van Alstine, E., <j 
Van Halteran, A. S., e 
Verran, G., e 
Waite, R. H., a 
Warden, W., a 
Weeks, H. B., a 
White, O. K., a 
Wilcox, J. C, a 
Willson, E. A., a 
Wilson, A. W., e 
Wright, L. H., e 



Peck, C. B., e 

The class, seated immediately below the speaker's platform, 

256 



SEMI CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 257 

arose, formed in line, and passed across the platform, receiving 
the diplomas from the hand of President Roosevelt. 

Of those graduating, thirty-six completed the work in agri- 
culture, three in forestry, forty-three in engineering, and four- 
teen in home economics. 

After the presentation of diplomas to the graduating class 
by President Roosevelt, the honory degree of Doctor of Science 
(D.Sc.) was conferred by President Jonathan Le Moyne Snyder 
upon each of the following gentlemen : 

William Arnon Henry, President of the Agricultural College of Wisconsin. 
Charles Fay Wheeler, of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
Henry Clay White, President of the Agricultural College of Georgia. 
Charles Franklin Curtiss, Dean of the Agricultural Department and 

Director of the Experiment Station of the State College of Iowa. 
Thomas Forsyth Hunt, Dean of the Agricultural Department and 

Director of the Experiment Station of Pennsylvania State College. 
William Warner Tracy, of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
GiFFOKD Pinchot, Chief Forester of the Department of Agriculture of 
the United States. 

The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) was con- 
ferred upon each of the following gentlemen : 

James Burrill Angell, President of the University of Michigan. 

Eugene Davenport, Dean of the Agricultural College and Director of 
the Experiment Station of the University of Illinois. 

Winthrop Ellsworth Stone, President of the Purdue University. 

Herbert Winslow Collingwood, Editor of the "Rural New Yorker." 

Mortimer Elwyn Cooley, of the Engineering Department of the Univer- 
sity of Michigan. 

Whitman Howard Jordan, Director of the Experiment Station at Geneva, 
N. Y. 

Enoch Albert Bryan, President of the Agricultural College of the State 
of Washington. 

Rolla Clinton Carpenter, of the Engineering Department of Cornell 
University. 

James Wilson, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. 

As each of the gentlemen to receive an honorary degree was 
announced by Professor Babcock, he was escorted to the front 



258 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

of the platform by Dr. Thomas C. Blaisdell, acting as College 
Herald, and was presented to President Snyder, who, in con- 
ferring the degrees, spoke as follows : 

William Arnon Henry: 

It falls to the lot of few men to render to the people of their state such 
valuable service as you have rendered to the citizens of Wisconsin. Start- 
ing with very little material equipment, you have, by your untiring energy, 
built up a great agricultural school and an experiment station of the first 
rank. As an author and as a contributor to the agricultural press, you 
have rendered untold service to the stockmen of the world. The oldest 
agricultural college of this country congratulates you and the people of 
your state on your great achievements, and, through me, confers upon you 
the degree of Doctor of Science and presents you v/ith its diploma. 

Charles Fay Wheeler: 

Your training and skill as a systematic botanist entitles you to special 
recognition by your Alma Mater. On recommendation of the faculty and 
by the authority of the State Board of Agriculture, to whom you rendered 
valuable services for many years as a member of this faculty, I confer upon 
you the degree of Doctor of Science and present you with the diploma of 
the College. 

Henry Clay White: 

You have, as an investigator and administrator, rendered great service, 
both to agricultural science and to agricultural education. The land-grant 
colleges ov/e you a debt of gratitude for yoiu- zeal and successful efforts 
in their behalf before the national Congress. The state in which you hold 
a responsible position as the president of its agricultural college, and in 
which you wield a wide influence, has surpassed all other states in the estab- 
lishment of agricultural secondary schools. As a scientist and as a man 
of great ability in public affairs, this College confers upon you the degree 
of Doctor of Science, and presents you with its diploma. 

Charles Franklin Curtiss: 

This College confers upon you the degree of Doctor of Science in recog- 
nition, not only of your ability as a scientist and administrator, as is evi- 
denced in the rapid development of the Agricultural Department and 
Experiment Station over which you preside, but also in recognition of the 
great service which you have rendered to the interests of live-stock husbandry 
in the Middle West. I also present you v/ith its diploma. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 259 

Thomas Forsyth Hunt: 

In your chosen field you early carried forward experiments which have 
resulted in great good to the farmers of the country. Your textbook on 
the teaching of agronomy placed for the first time the knowledge of this 
subject in pedagogical form. You have been a very successful teacher of 
young men. Your work as an investigator, as an author, and as a teacher 
prompts this College to confer upon you, through me, the degree of Doctor 
of Science. 
William Warner Tracy: 

Loyal son of this College, you have gained by your persistent efforts 
through many years a high rank in that field of science which you have 
made your life work. By your discoveries you have broadened the field 
of human knowledge. For these reasons your Alma Mater takes great 
pleasure in conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Science, and in 
presenting you with its diploma. 
Gifford Pinchot: 

A graduate of Yale University, a student of forestry for years in the 
great universities of the Old World, and for the past nine years chief forester 
of the Department of Agriculture, Washington: In recognition of your 
ability as a student of great forestry problems, of your bold initiative, and 
of your courageous and sane methods of administration, we confer upon 
you the degree of Doctor of Science, and present you with the appropriate 
diploma of the College. 

James Bur rill Angell: 

This College confers upon you an honorary degree, not with the expecta- 
tion that it will add to the many similar honors which you have received 
from the great universities of the country, but that we may express to you 
our appreciation and sincere gratitude for the work you have done for the 
people of the state and for the kindly feeling and most helpful spirit that 
you have always shov/n toward this institution. This College honors itself 
in conferring upon you, the first citizen of Michigan, as well as its greatest 
educator, the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in presenting you v/ith its 
diploma. 

Eugene Davenport: 

In you this College desires to honor today one of its sons who has shown 
rare ability as an organizer and administrator. You have developed with 
wonderful rapidity a great agricultural school v/hich, in years to come, 
must render valuable service to scientific and practical agriculture. I take 
pleasure, on the nomination of the faculty and in behalf of the Board of 



26o MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Control, in conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Lav/s, and in 
presenting to you the diploma of the College. 
Winthrop Ellsworth Stone: 

In recognition of the great service you have rendered to science as an 
investigator and to technical education as president of one of the leading 
land-grant colleges of this country, this institution confers upon you the 
degree of Doctor of Laws, and presents to you its diploma. 
Herbert Winslow Collingwood: 

As you have for many years rendered most valuable service to agri- 
culture as editor of one of its leading jovu^nals, I have the pleasure of con- 
ferring upon you, in behalf of your Alma Mater, the degree of Doctor of 
Laws, and of presenting you with its diploma. 
Mortimer Elwyn Cooley: 

In recognition of your services as an expert in determining railway 
values, of your executive ability in developing the great engineering depart- 
ment of our university, and of your reputation as an engineer, on the recom- 
mendation of our faculty, by the authority of the Board of Control, I confer 
upon you the degree of Doctor of Laws, and present you with the diploma 
of the College. 
Whitman Howard Jordan: 

You have, by your work as an investigator, added much to the store 
of agricultural knov/ledge; v/hile as an administrator you have developed, 
by your rare ability, the great experiment station of the Empire State, which 
stands today without a peer. The College confers upon you the degree 
of Doctor of Laws, and presents to you its diploma. 
Enoch Albert Bryan: 

Upon you, conspicuous for moral courage, a scholar, a teacher of power, 
a builder of a great agricultural college in the far Northwest, on recommen- 
dation of the faculty and by the authority of the State Board of Agriculture, 
I confer the degree of Doctor of Laws, and present to you the diploma of 
the College. 
Rolla Clinton Carpenter: 

After graduating from this institution, you rendered it valuable service 
for many years as a member of its faculty. You have since served in a 
broader field as a member of the faculty of a renowned university. Your 
engineering skill and your ability as a designer of great construction render 
you worthy of special recognition. Your Alma Mater has great pleasure 
in conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in presenting you 
with the diploma of the College. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 261 

James Wilson: 

You have been a mighty force in the agricultural world during the past 
ten years. The great department over which you so ably preside has made 
wondrous strides. You have assembled a large body of scientists who are 
rapidly extending the boundaries of human knowledge and making it more 
easy each day for the farmer to work in harmony with nature's laws. You 
have done more than any other man to popularize agriculture. This 
College has great pleasure in conferring upon you the degree of Doctor 
of Laws, and in presenting you with its diploma. 

With the overture from Cyrano, rendered by the Bach 
Orchestra, the official program of the Semi-Centennial Celebra- 
tion came to a close. 

In the evening each of the literary societies of the College 
held a banquet and reunion, at which many of the alumni re- 
newed and reviewed old acquaintances and pleasures, thus 
closing and consecrating the Semi-Centennial Celebration at 
the altar of friendship. 



CONGRATULATORY ADDRESSES 

PRESENTED BY 

DELEGATES FROM OTHER INSTITUTIONS 
AND LEARNED SOCIETIES 



0ft n<di i<!t;iit,; int>th t'"pft'^tVnt ;ii!0 jfnoiIhT i»f 
Htg'fllit-hignnA^fU' ulfura lfeVllf'ijt'.l^rtYHnM: 



J lie <!ii';ifi' c( ru:-Uv:\ tilt' )^ rfi^ii'Lttt. :ini"« Hic_ 
jyaniltiM-'f^'Ci'riii'ininii'iTA'ihj Iiiii'>it tlti^ir 
'i^ ri'riliitl l• l'n^^r:I ^ ul: tHl'llt^ en llu- ii'injilifii'ii of 
)ltc tii-i'.riTnlftvntuntof lln-i-xii'-t.ita-oFlliL'iniiliuv.irv 
AijmlfunilYi'IK-iiir a In- I'liif.-I .vnfifia a<IK-,ujif^ 
ngriculhii'c- in !lu'ilitiKi> j-taK:^ , il Ir.i.-* I'liii a_ 
l^^;^^^•r il l Htc K- Jchiiig I'f AuririiUiiiv Mni'uicj;prri- 
itimj[jin^jni'j^fiii;iru'ii ■. ;iHi"> \h- L'UCi\:'-M -t- in nil 
Jhc^c tu'li** If.U'i' l'ii-it lU'K-uH'rHiir.ilh' I'-.irii'D ex- 



pcri tti caii ' in pi'i^MaiHiii :\^ njiplici"* Jo :tariculhu.iv 

It/.hc lu-iil of iin'-)iiti:i!'L- t'.-llm- K' ;ilTl:lftT i-tTi'rh 
Aiu> tlu-Viiailhj .'t"llu'il"olU-.u- li:n^- iiulij.'^a'' Ir.tcll; 

iTi- u'llO:-c illlluc l Ut- il l H lL tm illilldOl lIUIl fiT llOUDH- 

cr ini^Hhiticii!^ h.-i !> lu'cii potent iiiit' u'itV^ p rf.ti'. 

■f ornill "tIniiTri-itir trii->k ibnt t ttc t' utuiv of fhc 
^icliig-.iii ArtiiciiHur.ililVlliat'u'ill rcnlirc Hic hopt-;; 
nil t* n-^pir-itioii:' A i l :■ lL'lllll'' ^^ rr,nn ^ that it? iiil :! i.-urc 
of sut'iVrt? u'ill continue to increase. 



''jicretarnoflltefHiiulUi 





PHOTOGRAPHIC FACSIMILE (REDUCED) OF THE GREETINGS 
FROM CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 265 



A 

EE 
I 

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS 

The American Institute of Electrical Engineers extends 
congratulations to the Michigan Agricultural College on the 
completion of her fifty years of splendid service through high 
achievements in science and the mechanic arts and also through 
the many distinguished sons she has furnished to disseminate 
her fruitful teachings throughout the land. 

Engineers' Building, New York, N. Y. 
May 31, 1907 



266 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PAUL M. CHAMBERLAIN 

To the President and Board of Control of the Michigan Agri- 
cultural College: 

The President of the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers has appointed us as honorary vice-presidents to 
represent the society on the occasion of this the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of your institution. 

On behalf of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 
we have the distinguished honor to present to the president and 
Board of Control of the Michigan Agricultural College the 
congratulations of the society on this occasion which marks an 
era of prosperity in the great industries fostered by your institu- 
tion under the wise and beneficent provisions of federal and 
state legislation. 

The society recognizes the Michigan Agricultural College as 
the pioneer in a field of education which constitutes the very 
bulwark of our nation's prosperity, and cherishes the hope that 
the same wise administration of the affairs of your institution 
may continue in the future to be an example to be emulated by 
your sister institutions as it has been in the past. 

The society extends its greetings and acknowledgments to 
those who, as directors, teachers, investigators, and alumni, 
have brought to your institution the great distinction which it 
enjoys, and which is now being commemorated. 

The society is glad of the opportunity to join with you on so 
great a festal occasion and to take part with others in extending 
felicitations. 

American Society of Mechanical Engineers 
Frank E. Kirby 
Mortimer E. Cooley 
Alex. Dow 

Honorary vice-presidents 

29 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York 
May 31, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 267 



CLARK UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT E. G. LANCASTER 

To the President and Board of Control 0} Michigan Agricultural 
College: 

Dear Sirs : President E. G. Lancaster of Olivet College, who 
is an alumnus of Clark University, has been appointed to repre- 
sent Clark University at the celebration of the Fiftieth Anni- 
versary of Michigan Agricultural College, this note constituting 
his credentials. 

He bears you the most cordial greetings and hearty felicitation 
of Clark University on this auspicious occasion. 

With all good wishes for an ever-brightening future, I am, 

G. Stanley Hall 
President of Clark University 
Worcester, Massachusetts 
May 23, 1907 



268 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



CLEMSON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

FROM PRESIDENT P, H. NELL 

It gives me pleasure to have our institution represented on 
this most auspicious occasion, and as president of Clemson 
College I desire to extend to the Michigan Agricultural College 
my hearty congratulations for the splendid history of the past 
made by the Michigan College and to express the hope that 
there is a bright future before the institution. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 269 



COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND EXPERIMENT 

STATION 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DIRECTOR L. G. CARPENTER 

The Colorado Agricultural College and Experiment Station, 
peculiarly a child of the Michigan Agricultural College, extends 
its cordial greetings at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary. 



270 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE L. A. CLINTON 

To Michigan Agricultural College: 

Recognizing Michigan Agricultural College as the pioneer 
in agricultural education, at a time when such education was 
not popular or even understood; recognizing it as the institution 
after which many other similar colleges have been modeled, 
and recognizing that it has served as a training-school for presi- 
dents and professors of such other colleges: We, the faculty 
of The Connecticut Agricultural College, extend most hearty 
greetings to this justly honored institution upon the fiftieth 
anniversary of its founding — full of confidence that in the years 
to come it will continue to be as successful as in the past, and 
will always stand for what is best and truest in agricultural 
education. 

L. A. Clinton 

A. G. GULLEY 

E. O. Smith 
Faculty Committee on Congratula- 
tions to Michigan Agricultural 
College 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 271 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DEAN L. H. BAILEY 

To the State Board of Agriculture oj the State of Michigan, and 
the President and Faculty of the Michigan Agricultural 
College, Greeting: 

The Board of Trustees, the president, and the faculty of 
Cornell University tender their cordial congratulations on the 
completion of the first half-century of the existence of the Michi- 
gan Agricultural College. The oldest existing college of agri- 
culture in the United States, it has been a leader in the teaching 
of agriculture and in experiment and investigation; and its 
successes in all these fields have been noteworthy. Its varied 
experiments in pedagogy as appHed to agriculture have been 
of inestimable value to all later effort. And the faculty of the 
College have included teachers whose influence in the training 
of men for younger institutions has been potent and widespread. 

Cornell University trusts that the future of the Michigan 
Agricultural College will realize the hopes and aspirations of its 
founders, and that its measure of success will continue to increase. 

J. G. ScHURMAN, President 

[seal] Wm. a. HAMMOND' 

Secretary of the Faculty 
Ithaca, N. Y. 
May, 1907 



272 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICUI.TURAL COLLEGE 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

The Geological Society of America presents heartiest good 
wishes and felicitations. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 273 



GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 

Dr. Richard Harlan of the George Washington University 
brings from that university to the Michigan Agricultural College, 
upon the completion of a half-century of notable service to the 
nation, hearty felicitations and earnest wishes for great pros- 
perity in the future. 



274 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DR. THEODORE LYMAN 

Harvard University to the Michigan State Agricultural College, 
Greeting: 

The president and fellows of Harvard College send their 
hearty congratulations to the State Board of Agriculture of 
Michigan and to the president and faculty of the State Agri- 
cultural College on the Fiftieth Anniversary of its foundation. 
Anticipating by several years the establishment of the land- 
grant colleges, the Michigan Agricultural College performed the 
high service of a pioneer in both the literal and the figurative 
sense of the word. The steady development of the institution, 
when once the early days of hardship and experiment were over, 
and the attainment of its present prosperity and usefulness 
ofiFer a striking example of foresight and intelligent public spirit. 
May the Michigan Agricultural College continue to prosper 
through continued usefulness not only to the state but also to 
the agricultural and mechanical sciences throughout the world. 

The President and Fellows of Harvard College, by 

[seal] Jerome D. Greene, Secretary 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 275 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT JOSEPH W. MAUCK 

Hillsdale College, the oldest daughter m education of the 
church in Michigan, greets and congratulates the Michigan 
Agricultural College, one of the oldest and fairest daughters 
of the state, and offers a joyous and prayerful Godspeed, with 
the sentiment: A complete separation of the organic church 
from the state, but a more intimate union of vital reUgion with 
the work of both state and church. 



276 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



INDIANA UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT BRYAN 

Lux et Veritas, "light and truth." Let them be guides to 
thee as to me. The greetings of an octogenarian of the Old 
Northwest to a semicentenarian. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 277 



KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT E. R. NICHOLS 

The Kansas State Agricultural College sends greetings and 
congratulations to Michigan Agricultural College on her golden 
anniversary. We wish to acknowledge our appreciation and 
indebtedness to our mother institution, for so we regard her, 
who has been our model and who has furnished us so many 
illustrious men. 



278 MICfflGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



KENTUCKY EXPERIMENT STATION 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DR. M. A. SCOVELL 

The Kentucky Experiment Station sends greetings and 
felicitations to the Michigan Agricultural College on its fiftieth 
anniversary and congratulates it on its fifty years of fruitful 
work and wishes it even a brighter and a still more fruitful 
future, and ever-increasing success. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 279 



LAKE ERIE COLLEGE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE MISS INGA M. K. ALLISON 

The trustees, the president, the faculty, and the students of 
Lake Erie College extend to the Agricultural College of Michigan 
their heartiest congratulations upon this the Semi-Centennial 
Celebration, and upon fifty years of honorable and useful service 
to the state and nation. 



28o MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT KENYON L. BUTTEREIELD 

Massachusetts, through its agricultural college, sends con- 
gratulations to the Michigan Agricultural College on the occasion 
of its fiftieth anniversary, and recalls with pride the fact that the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its famous imiversity. 
Harvard, were respectively the native state and the Alma Mater 
of that great and far-seeing man, Joseph R. Williams, the first 
president of the Michigan Agricultural College. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 281 



MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, through its 
delegate, Professor George W. Patterson, congratulates the 
Michigan Agricultural College on this most happy anniversary. 



282 MICfflGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



ML\MI UNIVERSITY 

PIUESENTED BY DELEGATE BENJAMIN MARSHALL DAVIS 

Greetings and congratulations to Michigan Agricultural 
College from Miami University. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 283 



MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 

Professor James B. Pollock presents the congratulations of 
the Michigan Academy of Science. 



284 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT A. W. HARRIS 

Northwestern University to the President and Board oj Control 
of the Michigan Agricultural College, Greetings and Con- 
gratulations: 

Your institution was a pioneer and has continued to be a 
leader in a branch of educational work, the far-reaching value 
of which each year is recognized more fully. The American 
people are an agricultural people and they cherish ideals of 
popular education. It is therefore doubly needful in this country 
that agriculture and education should go hand in hand. That 
institution, then, which, Uke your own, is training men and 
women to develop the resources of nature at first hand is doing 
a service of inestimable benefit both to the nation as a whole and 
to the cause of education. 

Northwestern University upon the occasion of your Fiftieth 
Anniversary expresses its high appreciation of what your college 
has already accomplished and wishes for it a career of even 
greater prosperity and usefulness. 

Abram Winegardner Harris 

President of the University 

[Seal] Frank P. Crandonj 

Secretary of the Board of Trustees 
EvANSTON, III. 
May 14, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 285 



OBERLIN COLLEGE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DEAN CHARLES E. ST. JOHN 

Oberlin College begs to extend her congratulations to Michi- 
gan Agricultural College on the completion of fifty years of 
valuable service. 



286 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



OLIVET COLLEGE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT E. G. LANCASTER 

To the President and Board of Trustees of Michigan Agricultural 
College: 
Olivet College sincerely congratulates the Michigan Agri- 
cultural College on her magnificent work for the state of Michi- 
gan during the past half-century, and extends to her most 
cordial greetings and best wishes on this the happy occasion of 
her fiftieth anniversary. 

E. G. Lancaster, President 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 287 



POMONA COLLEGE 

Pomona College, Claremont, California, through her delegate, 
Dr. Albert J. Cook, extends hearty greetings to the Michigan 
Agricultural College, and congratulates her on the long and 
admirable service which she has rendered to education, and 
especially to agriculture. Her ideals have always been high, 
and she has always rung true to the cause which the Morrill bill 
sought to promote. We send cordial feUcitations, because of 
the able men which she has sent forth — men who have done 
royal service to agriculture and to agricultural education. We 
extend our most hearty good wishes, that the future may be 
still more bright and prosperous. 

May 31, 1907 



288 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



PURDUE UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT WINTHROP ELLSWORTH STONE 

Purdue University extends to its sister and neighbor, the 
Michigan Agricultural College, its hearty congratulations upon 
the completion of a half-century of notable achievement in 
education, and expresses the sincere hope that her influence 
and usefulness may never be diminished. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 289 



RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND 
MECHANIC ARTS 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT HOWARD EDWARDS 

To the Trustees, Faculty, and Students 0} Michigan Agricul- 
tural College: 

There are certain times in the life of an institution, as in that 
of a person, when the well-directed labors of years receive their 
meed of congratulation. And so the faculty of the Rhode Island 
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts is glad to send its 
greetings to the Michigan Agricultural CoUege on the occasion 
of its Semi-Centennial Anniversary. 

It should indeed be a year of jubilee for the College, which 
has been a pioneer in introducing and developing a new form 
of education to meet the varied needs of a growing and diversi- 
fied people. Without precedents to guide it, imcertain of its 
relation to other state institutions, amid many perplexities and 
discouragements, it succeeded in solving the problems of how 
to co-ordinate the training of brain and hand and dignify in- 
dustrial education. All similar institutions are thus its debtors, 
and may well unite in paying tribute to fifty years of faithful 
service. That the past work is but an earnest of even greater 
future success is the sincere wish of a sister college. 

Very truly, 

[Seal] Harriet L. Merrow 

Secretary of the Faculty 
May 24, 1907 



290 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURAL 

SCIENCE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT HENRY PRENTISS ARMSBY 

The Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science extends 
to the president, trustees, and faculty of the Michigan Agri- 
cultural College its congratulations upon the completion of 
fifty years of notable service to the cause of agricultural educa- 
tion. 

It recalls with pride the fact that one of its founders, and its 
first president, Dr. W. J. Beal, was and still is a professor in the 
Michigan Agricultural College, and that many of its most 
distinguished members have been graduates of that institution 
and members of its faculty. 

That the achievements of the half -century just closed may be 
but the prelude to more magnificent deeds in the half-century to 
come is the confident hope of this society. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 291 



STATE COLLEGE OF WASHINGTON 

The New Northwest sends greetings to the child of the Old 
Northwest. The State College of Washington presents its 
congratulations and fehcitations to the Michigan Agricultural 
College on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its estab- 
lishment. The distinguished service to the commonwealth and 
to humanity rendered by the College during the past fifty years 
will forever continue to be an inspiration to men and to states. 

May the oak tree, emblematic of long life, strength, beauty, 
and usefulness henceforth be inscribed on your coat of arms. 

For the Board of Regents and Faculty. 

E. A. Bryan, President 



292 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



TEXAS AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE 

Professor J. W. Carson bears to the Michigan Agricultural 
College the congratulations of the Texas Agricultural and 
Mechanical College, with the best wishes of its board of directors 
and faculty. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 293 



TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE 



Tuskc'gee Normal, Agricultural, and Industrial Institute, 
by its delegate, Professor Charles Walters Green, in charge of 
practical agriculture, felicitates Michigan Agricultural College 
on the completion of its half -century of work for the world. 



294 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 

Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the University of California 
presents a congratulatory letter from Professor E. W. Hilgard 
representing the College of Agriculture at Berkeley.^ 

I See page 224. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 295 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE HENRY CLAY WHITE 

The first established State University in America ofifers its 
fraternal and cordial felicitations to the Michigan Agricultural 
College, the first established agricultural college in America, 
upon the completion of a half-century of conspicuous and 
eminent science in kindred endeavors for the moulding of worthy 
American citizens and the maintenance of worthy American 
ideals. 



296 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
UNIVERSITY OF HALLE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DR. K. STERSTBRUCK, WHO SPOKE, FIRST IN 
ENGLISH AND THEN IN GERMAN, AS FOLLOWS: 

His Magnificence and the Senate of the University of Halle, 
in which the agricultural science holds an eminent place and to 
which Julius Kuhn has devoted all his life and blessed work, 
has charged me to give Michigan Agricultural College his con- 
gratulations and those of the university on this festival day. 

Michigan Agricultural College applied itself to experimental 
science at a time when on this ground even in Europe the very 
first timid attempts were made in a rather limited way, and by 
this means it has become as important and typical for the 
development of agricultural teaching as Halle for Germany. 

Its first president, Hon. Jos. R. Williams, maintained in his 
opening address that all disciplines being connected with 
agricultural science in any way or having any importance to it, 
ought to be cultivated. 

Michigan Agricultural College can boast of having had a 
great number of learned men well known in the world of science. 
In all the branches of agricultural and natural science, especially 
in attacking stock murrains, noxiousnesses in the vegetable 
kingdom, as to dairy, entomology, bacteriology, cultivation of 
corn, and horticulture the teachers of Michigan Agricultural 
College have been particularly successful from the beginning up 
to our date. By establishing substations, the CoUege has done 
an elaborate work in transferring scientific results into practice, 
and has highly contributed to the splendid agriculture of Michi- 
gan State. 

The University of Halle, the representative of which I have 
the honor to be, wishes that the Michigan Agricultural College 
may continue in this brilliant manner developing the agricul- 
tural science. 

It gives me pleasure to present to you this tabula congratu- 
latonia^ and my best wishes. 

I See p. 298. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 297 

[After handing the tabula congratulatonia to the President, Dr. Stein- 
briick continued :] 

Und nun lassen Sie mich in deutscher Sprache meine auf- 
richtigsten Wiinsche hinzufiigen, dass die innigen Beziehungen, 
welche zwischen beiden grossen so eng verwandten und be- 
freundeten Nationen, Deutschland und den Vereinigten Staaten, 
sowohl in wirtschaftlicher als auch besonders in wissenschaft- 
licher Hinsicht, in befreundender Wechselwirkung bestehen, 
immer inniger warden mochten. Die Wissenschaft kennt 
keine nationalen Grenzen. Dieselben Aufgaben beschaftigen 
hunderte der besten Kopfe und Denker diesseits und jenseits 
des Oceans. Ihre Losung kommt gleichmassig alien Kultur- 
volkern zu gute. In hohem Mass ist das bei der Landwirtschaft- 
wissenschaft der Fall. Die Landwirtschaft ist ja von besonderer 
Bedeutung fur die beiden Lander, da sie in beiden einen hervor- 
ragenden Platz in der gesammten Volkswirtschaft einnimmt. 
Auch heute noch hat das Wort Friedrich des Grossen Geltung : 

Die Landwirtschaft ist die erste aller Kiinste. Ohne sie gabe es 
keine Kaufleute, Dichter und Philosophen. Nur das ist wahrer ReichtUM, 
was die Erde hervorbringt. ^ 

I And now let me add in the German language my most sincere wishes 
that there may be ever-increasing stability in those intimate and friendly rela- 
tions which bind together with reciprocal benefit to science and agriculture, the 
two great nations so closely allied by social inheritance, Germany and the 
United States. Science knows no national boundaries. The same problems 
employ the best minds on both sides of the ocean. The solution of these prob- 
lems is of equal benefit to all civilized peoples. To a very high degree is this 
true of agriculture, a science of especial importance to our two coimtries, since 
it occupies a prominent place in our respective systems of political economy. 
Today the words of Frederick the Great have as much truth as when he spoke 
them: 

"The tilling of the soil is the foremost in all arts. Without it there would 
be no merchants, poets, and philosophers. That alone which the earth brings 
forth is true wealth." 



298 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

TABULA CONGRATULATONIA 

QVOD BONVM FELIX FAVSTVMQVE SIT 

CELEBERRIMO COLLEGIO AGRICVLTVRAE STVDIIS 

DES'lINATO CIVITATIS MICHIGAN TRANSMARINAE 

QVOTQVOT IN CIVITATIBVS FOEDERATIS AMERICAE SEPTENTRIONALIS EX- 

STANT HVIVS GENERIS COLLEGIORVM OMNIVM ANTIQVISSIMO 

OMNIVMQVE EXEMPLO 

CVI COLLEGIO PER DECEM LVSTRORVM SERIEM QVI PRAEFVERVNT VIRI 

APVD OMNES CVLTIORES NATIONES CLARO 
NOMINE NOTABILES FIDELITER ET STRENVE ID TENVERVNT QVOD EORVM 

PRIMVS VIR HONORATISSIMVS JOSEPHVS 
R. WILLIAMS IN AVSPICANDIS COLLEGII INITIIS PROCLAMAVERAT OMNES 

DISCIPLINAS SCIENTIASQVE QVAE AD 

STVDIA REI AGRARIAE PROMOVENDA ALIQUO MODO FACERENT HAC QVASI 

DOMESTICA SEDE CONDENDAS SOLLERTIQVE 

INDVSTRIA VELVTI IN VNVM CORPVS CONSOCIANDAS ESSE 

QVO IN COLLEGIO ET A STVDIORVM PRAESIDIBVS ET ABIIS QVI EORVM 

INSTITVTIONE FRVEBANTVR QVID AD 

AVGENDOS AGRORVM PROVENTVS DEFENDENDAQVE PERICVLA 

AGRICOLAE LABOREM INFESTANTIA COMMODE 

ADHIBERI POSSET MEDITANDO EXPERIVNDOQVE QVAERI NVLLO TEMPORE 

DESITVM EST MVLTAQVE DE OPPRIMENDIS 
PECVDVM PESTILENTIIS DE ARCENDIS EXTINGVENDISQVE ANIMALIBVS 

MINVTIS PLANTARVM EVERSORIBVS DE RE 
LACTARIA ET FRVMENTARIA PROSPERIVS EXERCENDIS INNVMERISQVE ALUS 

QVAESTIONIBVS FELICISSIME ATQVE 
SALVBERRIME EXPLORATA SVNT QVORVM COGNITIO STATIONIBVS PER 

TOTAM REGIONEM APTISSIME DISPOSITIS LATE 
PROPAGATA EFFECIT VT QVICQVID IN LABORATORIO REPERTVM ERAT 

CELERRIME IPSI AGRICOLAE ET PECVARIO 
PRODESSET MAGNVMQVE INDE INCREMENTVM CAPERET TOTIUS CIVITATIS 

RES RVSTICA 

SCHOLAE VT SCIENTIAE ITA IPSI REI AGRARIAE VSVI CVM OMNI LAVDE 

VBERRIMOQVE FRVCTV INSERVIENTI 

SACRA SEMISAECVLARIA 

DIE XIII MENSIS MAII ANNI MDCCCCVII 

SOLLEMNITER PER AGENDA 

EX ANIMI SENTENTIA GRATVLANTVR 

PRO EIVS SALVTE ET FELICITATE PIA VOTA NVNCVPANT 

FIDEM VOLVNTATEMQVE SVAM TESTANTVR 

VNIVERSITATIS FRIDERICIANAE HALENSIS CVM VITEBERGENSI 

CONSOCIATAE RECTOR ET SENATVS 

CAROLUS ROBERT' 

(SIGILLVM) 

I For translation see next page. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 299 

TRANSLATION OF TABULA CONGRATULATONLV 

Prosperity, happiness, and good auspices to the most celebrated agri- 
cultural college of the trans-oceanic state of Michigan, in the United States of 
North America, the oldest among the institutions of its kind and serving as a 
model to all of them. 

In this college men, whose glorious names are known among all civilized 
nations, have for ten series of semidecades most faithfully and strenuously 
sustained the idea expressed by the greatest (first) among them, a man of highest 
distinctions, Joseph R. Williams, at the inauguration of the institution: namely, 
that all systems of knowledge and aU sciences, to any degree participating in the 
promotion of the science of agriculture, in this very way lead to the preservation 
of the home and to the unity of all skilled industries into a single body. 

The teachers and students of this institution at no time ceased to investi- 
gate, by way of reasoning and experimentation, problems connected with the 
increased production of the fields and with the combating of the dangers mena- 
cing the work of the tiller of the soil. And many problems dealing with the defy- 
ing of pests upon cattle, with the checking and the extermination of minute 
animal forms obnoxious to plants, with the management of the dairy and the 
fertility of the soil, and numberless others have been solved in a most successful 
and glorious way. 

The results of these investigations are broadly disseminated by the experi- 
ment stations, which are in a most able manner distributed aU over the country, 
so that the discoveries made in the laboratories soon become the possession of 
the tillers of the soil and the breeders of cattle; and thus the agricultural interests 
of the entire country receive a powerful impetus. 

To the school which in such a glorious way and so fruitfully serves the in- 
terests of science and practical agriculture we send our heartiest congratulation 
upon this thirteenth day of May of the year MDCCCCVII (1907) destined 
for the celebration of the sacred semi-centennial festivals; we proudly pray 
(offer vows) for the welfare and happiness of the institution and testify our 
friendship and our best wishes. 

The Rector and Senate 

of the Friedrich Halle-Wittenberg University 

Carolus Robert 



300 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT GEO. E. FELLOWS 

The trustees, president, and faculty of the University of 
Maine present heartiest congratulations to Michigan Agricul- 
tural College upon fifty years of magnificent work. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 301 



UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PROFESSOR JACOB REIGHARD 

The University of Michigan begs to extend her congratulations 
to the Michigan Agricultural College on the completion of 
fifty years of valuable service, and hopes that the two institutions 
may ever continue to co-operate in ministering to the prosperity 
of the state which has so generously nourished them both. 

James B. Angell, President 
[seal] 

Ann Arbor 
May 25, 1907 



302 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DEAN CHARLES EDWIN BESSEY 

The regents, chancellor, faculty, and students of the Univer- 
sity of Nebraska send greetings from the Great Plains, and 
congratulate the people of Michigan upon the great prosperity 
of their State Agricultural College on this its fiftieth anniversary. 

May 31, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 303 



UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER 

The University of Rochester, through its delegate, Pro- 
fessor Francis W. Kelsey, presents felicitations, most cordial 
congratulations, and heartiest good wishes. 



304 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE PRESIDENT MATTHEW HENRY BUCKHAM 

The University of Vermont extends hearty congratulations 
to the Michigan Agricultural College on the occasion of the 
celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of its founding, and 
joins with its alumni and friends in wishing for it a future of 
great prosperity and growth. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 305 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 

PRESENTED BY DELEGATE DEAN W. A. HENRY 

To the President, the Governing Board, and the Faculty of the 
Michigan State Agricultural College: 
The University of Wisconsin extends congratulations to its 
sister institution on the completion of a half -century of service to 
the state, and to the cause of agricultural education. Not only 
in time of estabUshment, but in molding the agricultural 
thought of the nation, the Michigan State Agricultural College 
has been the pioneer. May the high ideals which have domi- 
nated the College in the past lead on to still greater achievement 
in the future. 

Charles R. Van Hise, President 
[seal] 

May 28, 1907 










t^' exlunis congrdtuiations t o iU s'lsicr "tnstiiuiion 
Y*ij' on {^(t^corny>(A'wnofa^^atfccp\uvuofscro\cc h 
\h<i'S\a[<i. , aiib [o toe cause^"*]* aavicutha-a( cc)- 
iicuiic^ix . J.>ol onlu in tnT)d of ct-lablt^l-jnvnt; 
kil in moulbina ll)c a^riculturaf tpoiuililo} K)enu- 
lion, \i)ii. ^itcliiount ^laicStDitnruUuroltftillpgc 1) JS birun 
tpc pionc«2r. ilX<^M ^h<i bi»lb i<J«i<ii5 U"'nicn haiv Nomi- 
nal <!.^ H)c OolTcJC in Hv past I'li-ai onto stilf orcuter 
ocbit^ui^n^kJiil intr)ir future. 



iHai2, i'n-'cnb rf^fitli.lSOi" 







PHOTOGRAPHIC FACSIMILE (REDUCED) OF THE GREETINGS 
FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 



CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES 

RECEIVED BY THE COMMITTEE 

FROM OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND LEARNED 
SOCIETIES 



SEMI-CENTENNL\L CELEBRATION 309 



ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY 

Dear Sir : The Senatus Academicus of this university desires 
to return its cordial thanks to the President and Board of Control 
of Michigan Agricultural College for the courteous invitation 
to be represented at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary 
of the institution. Unfortunately it has not been found pos- 
sible to name a delegate to be present on the occasion, as the pro- 
fessors are now fully occupied with the Summer Session work. 

The Senatus sends its hearty congratulations to your presi- 
dent and board on the auspicious anniversary which is about 
to be celebrated, together with its cordial good wishes for the 
future prosperity of the college. 

I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 

Donaldson Rose Thom, Secretary 

Aberdeen 
May I, 1907 



3IO MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



ALABAMA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 

My dear Sir: I regret very sincerely to say that our Com- 
mencement coincides exactly with your Semi-Centennial Cele- 
bration, and that it will, therefore, be impossible to have a 
delegate from our institution in attendance. Your institution, 
I beUeve, is the oldest agricultural college on the land grant in 
the United States. Our institution is the oldest separate land- 
grant college in the South, having been established in 1872. 
We send you cordial greetings and we wish you long continuation 
of the career of prosperity and usefulness that has marked your 
institution. 

I am very sincerely yours, 

Chas. C. Thach, President 

Attbtjrn, Ala. 
May 15, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 311 



AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 

To the President and Board of Control, Michigan Agricultural 
College: 

Gentlemen: This society is in receipt of your courteous 
request that it be represented at the celebration of the Fiftieth 
Anniversary of your institution, May 28 to 31, 1907. 

I am instructed by the Board of Direction of this society to 
thank you for this invitation, which the society would be glad to 
avail itself of, it if were not so difficult to find a representative 
who would be able to be present on the occasion. 

I am directed by the board to express the congratulations of 
this society on the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of your institu- 
tion, and a cordial hope for its continued success. 

Yours respectfully, 

Chas. Warren Hunt, Secretary 
New York City 
March 6, 1907 



312 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY 

To the President and Board of Control, Michigan Agricultural 
College: 

Sirs: I am directed to acknowledge with thanks the receipt 
of your invitation requesting that the Calcutta University may 
be represented at the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary 
of the Michigan Agricultural College from May 28 to 31, 1907, 
and to state in reply that the Hon'ble the Vice-Chancellor 
and Syndicate regret that they are not in a position to avail 
themselves of the invitation. 

I have the honor to be, Sirs, 

Your most obedient servant, 

G. Thibaut, Registrar 
Senate House 
April 27, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 313 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

To the President of Michigan Agricultural College: 

Dear Sir: I write to express our great regret that it seems 
impossible for us to make arrangements for a delegate from 
Columbia University at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Michigan 
Agricultural College. The date falls at a time when our officers 
of instruction are under unusual pressure incident to the closing 
of the academic year. We wish to present to the College 
through you our heartiest congratulations upon the anniversary 
and our warm wishes for the continued success of the institution. 
I have the honor to be, Sir, 

Respectfully yours, 

F. P. Keppel, Secretary 
New Yokk City 
March 6, 1907 



314 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



DELAWARE COLLEGE 

To the President and Board of Control, Michigan Agricultural 
College: 

At their last meeting our faculty directed me to express their 
regret at their probable inability to have our college represented 
at the celebration of your Fiftieth Anniversary. They further 
directed me to express their appreciation of your kind invitation 
and their thanks for the same. 

Wishing you a very satisfactory occasion, I am, with regards, 

Very truly yours, 

Frederic H. Robinson, Secretary 

Newark, Delaware 
March 29, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 315 



DEPAUW UNIVERSITY 

My dear Sir : I have your invitation to the Commencement 
and anniversary exercises to be held at Michigan Agricultural 
College. On behalf of the faculty and trustees permit me to 
thank you for the kind courtesy of the invitation and to express 
our warmest good wishes and congratulations. I only wish it 
were possible for some of us to be there. But our own Com- 
mencement and Seventieth Anniversary wiU be held at the same 
time. 

And I remain, yours ever, 

Edwin H. Hughes, President 

Greencastle, Ind. 
May 20, 1907 



3i6 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



FRANKLIN INSTITUTE 

To the Trustees and Faculty of The Michigan Agricultural 
College: 
Gentlemen: I have pleasure in transmitting herewith an 
extract from the minutes of the stated meeting of The Franklin 
Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, for the Promotion of the 
Mechanic Arts, held Wednesday, May 15, 1907. 

Respectfully yours, 

Wm. H. Wahl, Secretary 

[Extract from the Franklin Institute Minutes.] 
The president thereupon presented an invitation from the Michigan 
Agricultural College, asking the participation of the Franklin Institute in 
the commemorative exercises of the Fiftieth Anniversary of that institution. 
The secretary was directed to prepare and transmit a suitable acknowledg- 
ment of the invitation and to express the felicitations and best wishes of the 
Franklin Institute. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 
May 21, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 317 



HUNGARY DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

[cablegram] 
Michigan Agricultural College^ Lansings Michigan: 

Most sincere congratulations, wishing the future prosperity 
of the College. 

Darangi I. Royal 

Hungarian Minister of Agriculture 

Budapest 



3i8 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 

Dear Sir: I regret very much that I have not been able to 
find anyone who can serve as delegate of this university at your 
coming celebration. The time is most unfortunate for us, as 
we shall then be engaged in our final examinations, and the 
presence of every member of the staff is necessary. I intended 
to see whether I could not find someone elsewhere who could 
properly represent us, but for one reason and another I have 
not been successful in this, and it is now too late. 

Be assured of the hearty good-will of the Johns Hopkins 
University toward the Michigan Agricultural College, and 
accept our hearty congratulations upon the completion of your 
first half-century. Under other conditions we should unques- 
tionably have taken great pleasure in sending a representative 
to express more fully and more satisfactorily our high regard. 

I am, yours very respectfully, 

Ira Remsen, President 
Baltimore, Md. 
May 13, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 319 



KAISERLICH DEUTSCHES KONSULAT 

To the President of Michigan Agricultural College: 

Dear Sir: I am directed by the Imperial Foreign Office to 
transmit to you and through you to the Board of Control of 
Michigan Agricultural College the best thanks of His Excellency 
the Royal Prussian Minister of Agriculture at Berlin for the 
kind invitation you tendered the Department of Agriculture, 
and his regrets that the plans heretofore laid out for the period 
in question did not permit the sending of a special representative 
of His Excellency to participate in the celebration of the Fiftieth 
Anniversary of your institution. 

I hear with interest that you had the kindness to invite Mr. 
Nicola Kaumanns attached as agricultural attach^ to the United 
States to the consulate at Chicago. Through him I will hear 
about the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Michigan 
Agricultural College. 

I have the honor to remain, dear Sir, 

Yours very respectfully, 

W. Wever 

Imperial German Consul-General 
Chicago 
May 22, 1907 



320 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



KONIGLICHE UNIVERSITAT 

An den Herrn Prdsidenten des Michigan- Agricultural-College: 
Namens imserer Universitat spreche ich den verbindlichsten 
Dank aus f iir die freundliche Einladung zu der Jubelfeier Ihrer 
Anstalt. Zu unserem Bedauem sind wir nicht in der Lage, 
einen Vertreter zu entsenden, weil die Feier in unser Semester 
faUt. 

Hochachtungsvoll und ergebenst, 

Der Rektor 

V. Sybel^ 
Marburg 
den 9. Marz 1907 

I TBtE ROYAL TTNIVERSITY 
To tlie President of the Michigan Agricultural College: 

In the name of the University, I most respectfully tender thanks for the 
kind invitation to the jubilee celebration of your College. To our great regret, 
we are not in a position to send a delegate, since the celebration comes in the midst 
of our semester. 

Most respectfully yours 
The Rector 

VON Sybel 
Marburg 
March 9, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 321 



LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY 

Dear Sir: It was President Jordan's hope that some one of 
our professors going East might be able to combine a visit to 
Lansing with his other engagements and serve as our delegate 
to the Semi-Centennial Celebration of your College, the univer- 
sity having no provision by which the expenses of a delegate 
could be paid. Dr. Jordan has himself gone to Australia. I 
regret that it has not been possible for us to name a delegate 
under the circumstances. In this event it was President 
Jordan's wish that I should express to the Agricultural College 
of Michigan the good-will of Stanford University and her hearty 
congratulations on the completion of a half-century of splendid 
work in the cause of education. 

Very truly yours, 

G. A. Clark, Secretary 
Stanford University, Cal. 
May 15, 1907 



322 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



K. LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAT 

An das Michigan AgrikuUural College: 

Sie waren so freundlich unsere Universitat zur Feier des 
50-jahrigen Bestehens Ihres College einzuladen. Da die Feier 
mitten in das Semester fallt, so ist es uns nicht moglich einen 
Vertreter hinzu abzuordnen. Wir unterlassen aber nicht, auf 
schriftlichem Wege Ihnen misere herzlichsten Wiinsche zum 
Ausdrucke zu bringen. 

Der akademische Senat' 

MtJNCHEN 

am 12. Marz 1907 

IKING LUDWIG-MAXIMTLIAN'S XJNIVERSITY 

To the Michigan Agricultural College: 

You had the kindness to invite our university to participate in the cele- 
bration of the 50th Anniversary of your College. As the celebration occurs 
in the midst of our semester, we find it impossible for us to send a representative. 
However, we do not fail to express by means of writing our heartiest wishes for 
the welfare of your institution. 

The Academic Senate 

Munich March 12, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 323 

McGILL UNIVERSITY 

Dear Sir : I have been requested by the University of Cam- 
bridge to act as its representative at the Semi- Centennial Cele- 
bration of the Michigan Agricultural College and had fully 
intended to be present. My work, however, owing to the 
destruction of our buildings by fire, has been much increased, so 
that I fear I shall thus be unable to convey personally a message 
from the university which I have the honor to represent. 

As the letter from the vice-chancellor will have made known 
to you, the University of Cambridge desires to present its con- 
gratulations and earnest wishes for the continued prosperity of 
your institution, which is now celebrating the conclusion of so 
long a period of usefulness. 

The importance of the scientific study of agriculture is 
being constantly more widely recognized. The University of 
Cambridge has not been slow to take up this matter, and a 
Department of Agriculture has been in existence there for some 
years. The work of this department and the importance of 
the subject have been referred to by His Majesty King Edward 
in the following words, which I may be allowed to quote: 

I am very glad to know of the educational work in connection with the 
great industry of agriculture which you have undertaken. In common 
with most branches of industry, agriculture has in modern times come to 
depend for its success and extension upon the unremitting application to it 
of the results of scientific investigation. No greater service can be rendered 
to this ancient industry than to furnish it with the means of research and 
instruction, which are essential in order that labor may be directed in 
profitable channels. 

With my personal congratulations, and again regretting my 
inabihty to be present, I remain, 

Yours very truly, 

Henry T. Bovey 

Montreal 
May 20, 1907 



324 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

My dear Sir: I have your invitation to attend the Fiftieth 
Anniversary of the Michigan Agricultural College, to be held 
May 28 to 31, 1907, at Lansing, Mich. 

I regret exceedingly that the celebration, taking place on the 
dates it does, precludes my giving myself the pleasure of attend- 
ing either in person or by representative, as at this season we are 
in the midst of our final examinations, and this year, in addition 
to the final examination work, we will encamp with our Cadet 
Battalion at Jamestown about or near this time, and many of our 
staff will be with us for this encampment. 

I regret exceedingly these conditions, as it would be a great 
gratification to me to meet with you, and rejoice with you in the 
successes you have achieved in the past and the brilliant promises 
for your institution for the future. 

With much respect and esteem, 

Very truly yours, 

R. W. Silvester, President 

College Park, Md. 
February 23, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 325 



MICHIGAN PIONEER AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Dear Sir: We take pleasure in offering you our heartiest 
congratulations on the interesting program outlined for your 
Semi- Centennial, and on the wisdom shown in planning for 
such an important and historical occasion. The M. A. C. has 
proven a kindergarten for the colleges of the United States, and 
if her pupils come home with the titles and honor the Alma 
Mater has enabled them to win, it should make you all very 
proud and happy. 

Sincerely yours, 

Henry R. Pattengill, Secretary 

Lansing 
May 14, 1907 



326 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 

My dear Sir: I extremely regret to say that May is a month 
when my colleagues and I are all necessarily so absorbed in 
duties connected with the closing of the academic year that it 
will not be possible for our faculty to be represented at your 
Semi- Centennial Celebration. I am sure that I am speaking 
the feelings of my colleagues in extending Princeton's warmest 
congratulations to Michigan Agricultural College, as well as her 
best wishes for its continued prosperity and advance. 

Very sincerely yours, 

WooDROw Wilson, President 

Princeton, N. J. 
May 13, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 327 



RHODESIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your invita- 
tion to be present at the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary 
of the institution of your College, for which I beg you to accept 
my best thanks. 

It would have indeed been a great pleasure to us to have been 
represented at this celebration, but I regret that circumstances 
do not permit us to send a representative. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, 

Your obedient Servant, 

Wefe O. Honey 

Secretary for Agriculture 
Salisbury 
April 26, 1907 



328 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



ROYAL SOCIETY 

Dear Sir : I am desired by the president and Council of the 
Royal Society to express their best thanks for the invitation 
with which they have been honoured by the president and Board 
of Control of Michigan Agricultural College to be represented 
at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the institution. They regret to be 
unable to accept the invitation, but they send their good wishes 
for the complete success of the celebration and for the continued 
prosperity of the College. 

I beg leave to remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 

Francis Darwin, Foreign Secretary 
BtmLiNGTON House, London W. 
March i8, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 329 



TRANSVAAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

The President and Board 0} Control, Michigan Agricultural 
College: 

Gentlemen: On behalf of this department, I beg to offer 
to you our most sincere thanks for the honour you have done the 
department in inviting it to unite with you in the celebration of 
the Fiftieth Anniversary of the College. 

Unfortunately, it is a far cry from the Transvaal to Michigan, 
and owing to the distance, and to the fact that the leading mem- 
bers of our staff are so fully engaged at the present time, it is 
impossible for us to accept the invitation, much as we should 
like to do so. 

Will you therefore kindly accept our apologies for non- 
attendance ? 

Your College is famed throughout the world, both for its 
pioneer work in the cause of agricultural education and re- 
search, and for the perfection to which it has attained. It has 
been a source of inspiration and guidance to similar institutions 
in many countries, and the influence which it has exercised upon 
agriculture is widespread and profound. 

Most heartily do we congratulate you upon the occasion 
which you are celebrating, and may the future of your College 
be as useful and distinguished as its past. 

I have the honour to be. Gentlemen, 

Your obedient Servant, 



Pretoria 
April 6, 1907 



M. WURIT 

Director of Agriculture 



330 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM 

To the President and Board of Control of Michigan Agricultural 
College, Lansing, Michigan: 

Gentlemen: On behalf of the Senate of the University of 
Amsterdam I beg to tender you our best thanks for your kind 
invitation extended to our university to be represented at the 
celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the institution. Much 
to my regret I have to inform you that not one of the members of 
the Senate is in a position to avail himself of your invitation, and 
to convey to you our fraternal greetings and our best wishes on 
this auspicious occasion. We sincerely hope that the past half- 
century may prove to be the earnest of a glorious future, and 
that Michigan Agricultural College may continue to be a power- 
ful factor in the development of agriculture in the United States 
of America. 

With the cordial greetings of the University of Amsterdam 
to your College, I have the honour to be, yours faithfully, 

J. ROTGANS 

Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam 

Amsterdam 
April 27, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 331 



UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 

The president and Board of Regents of the University of 

Arizona regret that distance and the particular date will prevent 

their representation at the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary 

of Michigan Agricultural College. They beg leave to offer their 

most cordial f ehcitations upon the completion of this period of 

honorable and effective service. 

Tucson, Arizona 
March 9, 1907 



332 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY 

To the President and Board of Control, Michigan Agricultural 
College: 

Gentlemen : I am directed by the Syndicate to convey their 
thanks to you for your invitation to this university to be repre- 
sented at the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Michigan 
Agricultural College and to express regret that it is impossible 
to send a representative. 

I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, 

Your most obedient Servant, 



Bombay 
April 25, 1907 



Fardunji M. Dastur 

University Registrar 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 333 



UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES 

A Monsieur le President et d, Messieurs les Membres de la com- 
mission administrative du Michigan Agricultural College: 

Messieurs: J'ai I'honneur de vous accuser reception de 
rinvitation que vous avez bien voulu nous adresser de nous 
faire representer aux f^tes de la celebration du cinquantieme 
anniversaire de votre college. Nous vous en sommes tres 
reconnaissants, mais la date de cette celebration tombant dans 
la p^riode de nos cours, il est impossible que I'un de nos pro- 
fesseurs s'absente k cette ^poque. Nous devons nous borner 
^ former des voeux pour la duree et la prosperite de votre institu- 
tion. 

Veuillez agr^er, Messieurs, I'assurance de nos sentiments les 

plus distingues. 

Le secretaire de I'universite 

A. Lavachery^ 

Bruxelles 
le 2 Mars 1907 

iTJNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS 

To the President and the Members 0} the Administration Committee of the Mich- 
igan Agricultural College: 

Gentlemen : I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of the invita- 
tion to have our institution represented at the Semi-Centennial Celebration of 
your College. We appreciate this honor very highly, but since the date of this 
celebration comes while our school is still in session it is impossible for any 
of our professors to leave at that time. We must content ourselves with extend- 
ing our best wishes for the continued prosperity of your institution. 
Be assured of our most friendly regard and esteem, 

The Secretary of the University 
A. Lavachery 
Brussels 
March 2, 1907 



334 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE 

Sir: I have the honor and pleasure to inform you that, in 
response to your request that the University of Cambridge may 
be represented on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
Michigan Agricultural College, Dr. Henry Taylor Bovey, 
LL.D., D.C.L., M.Inst.C.E., F.R.S., Honorary Fellow of 
Queen's College, Cambridge, Dean of the Faculty of Science 
of the McGill University, has been appointed by the University 
of Cambridge as its representative and has consented to act. 

I have requested Dr. Bovey to convey the hearty congratula- 
tions of the university to yourself and the Board of Control on 
the very interesting occasion of the Jubilee of the institution 
and to express to you the earnest wish of the university that your 
College may continue in all prosperity to perform the excellent 
work for which it is justly famed. 

I am. Sir, yours faithfully, 

E. S. Roberts, Vice-Chancellor 

GONVILLE AND CaiUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND 
April 15, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 335 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

Dear Sir: I beg to extend on behalf of the University of 
Chicago cordial congratulations to the Michigan Agricultural 
College on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the institu- 
tion. The work of our agricultural colleges is among the most 
important undertaken by the educational agencies of this coun- 
try. While our own interests lie along other lines, at the same 
time we are deeply concerned in all that affects the educational 
welfare of our people. 

Trusting that the College will continue to prosper and to 
expand its beneficent work, I am, 

Very truly yours, 

Harry Pratt Judson 

May 25, 1907 



TfZ'^ MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF CHRISTIANIA 

[cablegram] 
Agricultural College^ Lansing, Mich.: 
Greeting and Congratulations. 

University of Christiania 

Kristiania 
May 28, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 337 



UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 

The president and the faculties of the University of Cincinnati 
regret very much to find that it will not be possible to send a 
representative to the Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Michi- 
gan Agricultural College, as the commencement of the university 
occurs at the same time. They wish again to send sincere 
felicitations and to express hearty good wishes for the future 
welfare of the College. 

May 24, 1907 



338 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 

Dear Sir: The University of Colorado acknowledges the 
formal invitation to be present at the Semi- Centennial Cele- 
bration of the Michigan Agricultural College. We regret that 
the distance and the demands of approaching Commencement 
week will prevent our sending a delegate on that occasion. The 
regents and the faculties extend cordial greeting and congratula- 
tions on the growth and importance of the Michigan Agricultural 
College. 

Very truly yours, 

James H. Baker, President 
Boulder, Colo. 
May 15, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 339 



UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW 

To the President of Michigan Agricultural College: 

Sir: The University of Glasgow was gratified at receiving an 
invitation to send a representative to the celebration in the end 
of the present month of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Michigan 
Agricultural College. The date falls in the middle of our sum- 
mer session, and hence our professor of botany, who is of course 
the most interested among us in your work, was unable to cross 
the Atlantic. The university has the power of granting a 
degree in agriculture through the co-operation of the West of 
Scotland Agriculture College, and had the professor of agri- 
culture in that institution been in a position to undertake the 
duty the university would gladly have sent him as a representa- 
tive. The Senate must therefore content themselves with send- 
ing a cordial message of congratulation on the attainment of 
your Jubilee and an expression of their warmest wishes for your 
continued prosperity. 

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 

William Stewart 

Clerk 0} Senate 
Glasgow 
May 8, 1907 



340 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 

President J. L. Snyder, Michigan Agricultural College: 

My dear President Snyder : I regret to say that it is not 
likely that the University of Kansas will be able to send a repre- 
sentative to the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Michi- 
gan Agricultural College. I wish, therefore, on behalf of the 
regents and faculties of this university to express to you our 
hearty congratulations upon the event and our hope for a long 
continuance of your distinguished work. 

Very truly yours, 

Frank Strong 

Chancellor and President of the Board 0} Regents 

Lawrence, Kan. 
March 26, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 341 

UNIVERSITAT LEIPZIG 

An the Committee on Semi-Centennial Celebration 0} the Michi- 
gan Agricultural College: 

Fiir die an die Universitat Leipzig ergangene freundliche 
Einladung zur Teilnahme an der 50-jahrigen Stiftungsfeier des 
Michigan Agricultural College spreche ich dem geehrten Com- 
mittee on Semi-Centennial Celebration verbindlichsten Dank 
aus. 

Bei der Kiirze des Sommer-Semesters wird es aber fiir keinen 
der Professoren hier zu ermoglichen seui, als Delegierter zu der 
Festfeier personlich zu erscheinen. Es verfehlt jedoch der 
unterzeichnete Rector nicht, Namens der Universitat Leipzig 
dem geehrten Michigan Agricultural College zur Jubelfeier die 
herzlichsten Gliickwiinsche hierdurch auszusprechen. Moge 
es bei dem grossen Ruf e, dessen es sich nicht nur in praktischen, 
sondern auch in landwirtschaftlich wissenschaftHchen Kreisen 
zu erfreuen hat, in aller Zukunft bliihen und gedeihen. 

Der Rector der Universitat Leipzig 
Dr. Curschmann' 

Leipzig 

am 12. Marz 1907 

I THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG 

To the Committee on Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Michigan Agricultural 

College: 

For the invitation to the University of Leipzig to participate in the celebra- 
tion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Michigan Agricultural College I wish to 
express to the honored Committee on Semi-Centennial Celebration our most 
hearty thanks. 

On account of the short duration of the summer semester it will be impos- 
sible for any of the professors to be present in person as delegates on this occasion. 
However, the undersigned Rector takes pleasure in extending herewith in the 
name of the University of Leipzig the most cordial congratulations to the honored 
Michigan Agricultural College on its Jubilee. May it continue to thrive and 
flourish, forever maintaining the glorious reputation it has enjoyed and is 
justly enjoying among practical, as well as scientific agriculturists. 

The Rector of the University of Leipzig 

Dr. Curschmann 
Leipzig, March 12, 1907 



342 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE 

The President^ Michigan Agricultural College: 

Sir: I have the honour on behalf of the University of Mel- 
bourne to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of the invitation 
to be represented at the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary 
of the Michigan Agricultural College. 

I am directed by the Council to convey to you its congratula- 
tions on the occasion of the Jubilee of the College and to express 
its regret that it is unable to appoint a representative to be 
present at the celebration. 

I have the honour to be, Sir, 

Your obedient Servant, 

W. E. Cornwall, Registrar 

May 3, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 343 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA 

President of the Board of Control, Michigan Agricultural College: 
Dear Sir: I write on behalf of the State University of North 
Dakota to express our regret that it will be impracticable for the 
university to be represented by a delegate on the occasion of the 
Fiftieth Anniversary of the founding of the Michigan State 
Agricultural College. Previous engagements make it impos- 
sible for me to be present on that occasion. I am instructed by 
the faculty, however, to send most cordial greetings and con- 
gratulations upon the very honorable record of the Michigan 
State Agricultural College during the past half-century. Its 
contribution to the wealth and well-being of the state of Michigan 
as well as to the great cause of agricultural improvement through- 
out the country is incalculable. It is our hope that the brilliant 
achievements of the last half-century are but the harbinger of a 
still more brilliant career to be achieved in the next half -century. 
With renewed greetings and congratulations, I have the 
honor to remain, 

Very sincerely yours, 

Webster Merrifield, President 

University, N. D. 
April 6, 1907 



344 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

UNIVERSITE DE PARIS 

Monsieur le President: 

J'ai communique au Conseil de I'Universite de Paris I'invita- 
tion que vous avez bien voulu adresser a I'Universite de se faire 
representer aux fetes du 5oeme anniversaire de la fondation du 
College d'Agriculture de Michigan, qui auront lieu les 28, 29 
et 30 mai prochain. 

J'ai le regret de vous informer qu'a cette 6poque de I'ann^e 
oil s'achevent les cours, et oil s'ouvre la p^riode des examens, il 
ne sera pas possible k I'Universite de r^pondre "k votre voeu. 

Mais en son nom comme au mien, j'ai I'honneur de vous 
adresser, avec nos remerciements pour votre invitation, I'expres- 
sion de nos voeux les plus empresses pour la prosperity du Col- 
lege d'Agriculture de Michigan. 

Veuillez agreer. Monsieur le President, I'assurance de ma 
haute consideration. 

Le Vice-Recteur 
President du Conseil de V Universite de Paris' 
Paris 
le 17 avril 1907 

iTHE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS 

Mr. President: 

I have communicated to the Council of the University of Paris your kind 
invitation addressed to the university to participate in the celebration of the 
Fiftieth Anniversary of the Michigan College of Agriculture taking place on the 
28th, 29th, and 30th days of next May. 

I regret to inform you that at this time of the year, when the regular work 
of the university has just been completed and the examinations are about to 
commence, it would be impossible for us to respond to your desire. 

But in the name of the university, as well as my own, I have the honor to 
render you our thanks for your invitation and to express our most earnest wishes 
for the welfare of the Michigan College of Agriculture. 

Mr. President, accept the assurance of my highest regards. 

Vice-Rector 

President of the council 0} the University of Paris 
Paris, April 17, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 345 



UNIVERSITY OF TOKIO 

[cablegram] 
Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich.: 
Cordial Congratulations. 

University Tokio 

TOKIO 

May 28, 1907 



346 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT 

To the President and Board of Control of Michigan Agricultural 
College: 
The Senate of the University of Utrecht have the honor to 
acknowledge with thanks the invitation of the president and 
Board of Control of Michigan Agricultural College, to be repre- 
sented at the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
institution on May 28 to 31, 1907. They regret not having an 
opportunity to appoint delegates who might orally give expres- 
sion to their admiration for your illustrious College, and request 
that the cordial congratulations of the University of Utrecht be 
graciously accepted from this address. 

The Secretary of the Senate 
W. H. Julius 

Utrecht 
March 15, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 347 



UNIVERSITAT WIEN 

An das Michigan Agricultural College: 

Das Michigan Agricultural College hat der k. k. Universitat 
Wien eine Einladung zu der in der Zeit vom 28. bis 31. Mai 1907 
stattfindenden 50-Jahrfeier ubermittelt. 

Ich beehre mich, namens der Wiener Universitat hierf iir den 
warmsten Dank auszusprechen und meinem Bedauern dariiber 
Ausdruck zu geben, dass die Entsendung eines Vertreters gerade 
um diese Zeit nicht moglich ist, weil der Unterrichtsbetrieb an 
der Universitat und die dort stattfindenden Priifungen eine 
langere Entfernung von Mitgliedern des Lehrkorpers imtunlich 
erscheinen lassen. 

Es sei mir gestattet, dem loblichen Michigan Agricultural 
College auf diesem Wege die Gliickwunsche der k. k. Universitat 
Wien zu iibermitteln. 

Der Rektor der k. k. Universitat^ 

Wien 
am 24. April 1907 

^UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA 
To the Michigan Agricultural College: 

The Michigan Agricultural College extended its invitation to the K. K. 
University of Vienna to participate in the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary 
of the institution, taking place between the 28th and 31st days of May, 1907. 

I have the honor to express in the name of the University of Vienna our 
heartiest thanks for your kindness and, at the same time, regret to say that we 
find it impossible for us to send a representative at that time, for the regtilar 
work of the University as well as the examinations taking place there at the time 
mentioned, do not permit the prolonged absence of any member of the faculty. 

Permit me to extend to the worthy Michigan Agricultural College the 
congratulations of the K. K. University of Vienna. 

Rector of the K. K. UNrvERsrry 

Vienna, .\pril 24, 1907 



348 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



WESTERN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The Chancellor and Faculty of the Western University of 
Pennsylvania gratefully acknowledge receipt of the invitation of 
the President and the Board of Control of Michigan Agricul- 
tural College to be represented at the celebration of the fiftieth 
anniversary of the institution, May 28-31, 1907, and very greatly 
regret that the near approach of Commencement will prevent 
representation on that occasion. They wish, however, to con- 
gratulate the Michigan Agricultural College upon attaining to 
the mature age of fifty years, and to wish the College a continua- 
tion of its great prosperity and splendid usefulness during the 
next half -century. This expression is the more earnest because 
Pittsburgh has given to the College its present able executive 
and more recently the head of its English Department. 

Pittsburgh, Pa. 
March 12, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 349 

In addition to the greetings printed in full, felicitations were 
received from the following institutions: 

Adelphi College, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa. 

Antioch College, Yellow Springs, O. 

Bates College, Lewiston, Maine 

Beaver College and Musical Institute, Beaver, Pa. 

Beloit College, Beloit, Wis. 

Boston University, Boston, Mass. 

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa. 

Carleton College, Northfield, Minn. 

Carthage College, Carthage, III. 

Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Mo. 

Cheshire Swine Breeder's Association, Freeville, N. Y. 

Colgate University, Hamilton, N. Y. 

Denison University, Granville, Ohio 

Department of Agriculture, Victoria, Melbourne 

Detroit College, Detroit, Mich. 

Eureka College, Eureka, 111. 

Georgia School of Technology, Atlanta, Ga. 

Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio 

Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, 111. 

Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn. 

Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio 

Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Ind. 

Occidental College, Los Angeles, California 

Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 

Pennsylvania College for Women, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass. 

Roanoke College, Salem, Va. 

Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Ind. 

RoTHAMSTED EXPERIMENTAL STATION, Harpendcu, England 

Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 

Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y. 

Thomas S. Clarkson Memorial School of Technology, Potsdam, 

N. Y. 
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland 
University of Illinois, Urbana, 111. 
University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 



350 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. M. 
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. 
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 
University of Sydney, Australia 
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass. 
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 
Wheaton College, Wheaton, 111. 
The Woman's College, Baltimore, Md. 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass. 
Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 



CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES 

RECEIVED BY THE COMMITTEE 

FROM INDIVIDUALS 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 353 



FROM SARAH M. ABBOT 

Widow of Theophilus C. Abbot, Professor in this College, 1858-92, and 
President, 1862-84 

President Snyder: 

Dear Sir: It is with exceeding regret that I must decline the 
invitation to be present at the Fiftieth Anniversary of Michigan 
Agricultural College. Nothing could give me greater pleasure 
than to meet once more the old students and other friends who 
will be there, but the infirmities of old age do not permit me to 
take the long journey. 

With best wishes for the continued prosperity of the College 
in which I shall ever be interested, 

Very sincerely yours, 

Sarah M. Abbot 

San Gabriel 
May 17, 1907 



354 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

FROM ROBERT GIBBONS 

For many years Editor of the Michigan Farmer 

President J, L. Snyder, Michigan Agricultural College, Mich.: 

Dear Mr. President: Pardon my neglect to acknowledge 
the receipt of your very artistic invitation to attend the Semi- 
centennial of Michigan Agricultural College. I can assure 
you the compliment is highly appreciated, and I only waited to 
see whether or not I could possibly be present before replying. 
It is with great regret I find I will not be able to attend. Thurs- 
day is Memorial Day, and I could not put off meeting with the 
old comrades yet able to answer roll-call, but maybe for the last 
time. They are dropping fast, now, and the few left in Detroit 
Post 384. regard the loss of a familiar face as a calamity. 

But I am getting too reminiscent — a sign probably that Dr. 
Osier should be on my track and cut me off as a cumberer of the 
earth. 

But, Mr. President, let me say that the Michigan Agricultural 
College is the Plymouth Rock of American agriculture, and as 
inspiring in its history as that famous rock has been in the history 
of free government. Its pioneers had as arduous a task before 
them as the Pilgrim Fathers, and did their duty as they saw it, 
as faithfully as the Puritans. Long after we have passed into 
oblivion the agricultural colleges of the United States will be 
the beacon lights along the stream of progress which will warn 
voyagers from the rocks of ignorance and prejudice, and guide 
them into the harbors of success and advancement. Every 
patriot who prizes the well-being of his country should contribute 
by voice and work for their fuller development to meet the 
enlarged and onerous duties they will be compelled to assume. 

This is not written in eulogy, but as a statement of facts that 
will force themselves upon the minds of all who have studied 
their history. I have had opportunities during the past forty 
years to know the men who have managed M. A. C.'s affairs 
and taught its students, and have seen the results of their teach- 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 355 

ings exemplified on the farms of the state. It is an inspiring 
record, and one that will be more greatly honored a century 
hence than the present generation can realize. 

Let us all hope, Mr. President, that future generations will 
be as faithfully served by the faculty and managers of agricul- 
tural colleges all over the land as the present ones, and there will 
be no fear that the agriculturaHst will not develop with his 
opportunities, and become more of a factor in the industrial 
progress of the Union than he is now. 

Sincerely beUeviug that I have not overstated, or even ap- 
proached the magnitude of the services rendered by the farmers' 
colleges in the Union, I need not repeat that I regard them as 
worthy of all praise as the best examples of the true dignity of 
labor that is honestly performed and as exemphfying its great 
value m building up the character of American Citizens. 

All honor, therefore, to the M. A. C, the Plymouth Rock of 
American agriculture, whose teachings developed pioneers able 
to make plain the great truths of Nature and their relation to the 
highest development of modern agriculture. To yourself, Mr. 
President, and your able assistants and advisers, I feel it only 
justice that I, who know what has been accomplished, should 
bear testimony to their unselfish and patriotic services in advanc- 
ing and developing the agriculture of the state. 

This is not for the public, but to make clear to yourself and 
every member of the faculty how much I appreciate their 
services. ^ 

Sincerely yours, 

RoBT. Gibbons 

Detroit, Mich. 
May 28, 1907 

I Permission was later given for the publication of this letter. — Editor. 



356 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



FROM DOCTOR EDWARD EVERETT HALE 

My dear Sir: I am one of the few people who remember 
with interest the estabhshment of the Agricultural College. 
I have followed its honorable history with pride and pleasure. 
I am honored and gratified by your invitation. But I am sorry to 
say that I have already made appointments for that week which 
compel me to decline attempting the service which you propose. 

I told Senator Burrows that I hoped I could arrange to come. 
But this proves to be impossible. 

Truly yours, 

Edw. E. Hale 

1748 N Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 
February 12, 1907 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 357 

A GREETING TO THE MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL 
COLLEGE 

FROM DOCTOR E. W. HILGARD 

Professor of Agriculture in the University of California and Director of the 
Experiment Station 

Greatly regretting my inability to be personally present at the 
Semi-Centennial Celebration of the founding of the oldest 
agricultural college in the United States, I have requested 
President Wheeler to convey to the Michigan College my greet- 
ings and congratulations upon this auspicious occasion, which 
representatives of all colleges in the country have come together 
to celebrate. I hail it as one of the manifestations of growing 
interest in the commemoration of anniversaries of victories 
unconnected with the marshaling of armies or with civil strife. 

I know I am but one among the hundreds engaged in pro- 
moting the progress of the fundamental industry, which is now 
emerging from the eclipse of ages into recognition as a profession 
worthy of the highest efforts of the best intellects. I am, how- 
ever, led to ask a hearing at this time, as one of the relatively few 
survivors of the first general meeting of agricultural college men, 
held in Chicago in August, 1869, when the Michigan College 
was already twelve years old. The call to that early conven- 
tion was for the discussion of the proper organization of, and 
subjects and methods of instruction in, the new institutions, 
regarding which there was a wide divergence of opinion. If I 
remember rightly, several of the charter members of the Michi- 
gan College, whose names are on the program of this meeting, 
were also present ; and among the eastern delegates was Daniel 
C. Oilman, then librarian of Yale College. It was remarked by 
those attending that the Michigan College alone had placed on 
the program several strictly technical papers, the first of these 
being one by Professor Manly Miles, on "Pig Feeding." On 
my arising to a point of order, claiming that the object of the 
meeting was to discuss the education of men and not animals, 



358 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

the objection was not sustained by the chairman, in view of the 
prominence of the speaker, and the seniority of the Michigan 
College. It clearly developed during the later discussions that 
Michigan College considered that she had already solved the 
problem, and that what has since borne the designation of the 
"Michigan Plan," viz., a large proportion of student labor, "to 
keep up the habit and not wean the pupils from the farm," was 
the only admissible method of agricultural education. The 
predominance of opinion at the adjournment of the convention 
seemed to favor that plan, although many vigorous protests 
against the use of so much of the students' time for mere mechan- 
ical exercise were voiced. 

It is hardly necessary to dwell elaborately, before this audi- 
ence, upon the change of views and practice which experience 
has brought about in the Michigan College itself, and upon the 
gradual evolution of the "Wisconsin Plan," according to which 
it is distinctly recognized that the colleges organized under the 
Morrill Act cannot educate the bulk of the farmers' sons to be 
farmers, any more than the universities can directly educate the 
bulk of the rest of the population to their several pursuits. It is 
now recognized that in agricultural education as in every other, 
there must be a gradation of schools and of instruction, from 
the primary through graded grammar and high schools ; so that 
it shall be the special function of the colleges to train, in the 
main, agricultural experts and teachers, the lack of whom at this 
time offers the most serious obstacle to the effective organiza- 
tion of instruction in agriculture in the lower schools, where alone 
the bulk of the population can be trained in an)^hing. It is the 
attempt, made at first, to perform the physically impossible task 
of satisfactorily combining elementary and collegiate training 
within the colleges themselves, that has long made of them a 
bone of contention. For they were popularly charged with 
" educating the boys away from the farm," while in reality they 
were merely fulfilling their prescribed duty of giving instruction 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 359 

in "the sciences bearing on agriculture and the mechanic 
arts." 

I have held and defended these views for nearly forty years, 
mostly against heavy popular odds, but I do not fail to recognize 
and fully appreciate the inestimable services which the Michigan 
College has rendered to the cause of agricultural education. 
First in the field, and with few available precedents to act upon, 
amid intensely practical surroundings, she took what appeared 
to be the most obvious and direct course toward the desired end, 
thus giving an object-lesson of the greatest importance to all the 
younger states and colleges. Therefore, in my view, the achieve- 
ments of the Michigan Agricultural College during the second 
half-century upon which she is now entering, can hardly be 
more widely useful than have been those of the first, the end of 
which brings her well-deserved congratulations from all parts 
of the United States. 

EUG. W. HiLGARD 



360 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



FROM BYRON D. HALSTED 

Of the Class of 187 1. Instructor, 1873-74, Professor of Botany and 
Horticulture, Rutgers College, 1889- 

[telegram] 

New Brunswick, N. J., May 29, 1907 
President Jonathan L. Snyder: 

My love to my Mother, whose paeans are sung 
The queen of all others, and fifty years young. 

Byron D. Halsted 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 361 



FROM PRICE J. WILSON 

Tiffin, Ohio, May 22, 1907 

President 0} Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich.: 

My dear President Snyder: I certainly do most highly 
appreciate your kind invitation of May 18 to attend the Semi- 
centennial Exercises of your great institution. My uncle, 
P. J. Price, Mr. H. A. Woodworth's father-in-law, my brother, 
and myself walked out from Lansing that day,^ for conveyances 
were of primitive style and not plenty in those days. We all 
enjoyed the exercises. The address of the president of the 
College was full of hope and you are enjoying its fruition in 
these days. I rejoice in the success that has come to Michigan 
Agricultural College. 

I hope the days of next week will be deUghtful and full of 
rational enjoyment. I hope to accept your invitation to be 
present and I do sincerely thank you for this kindness. 

Very truly yours 

Price J. Wilson 

1 May 13, 1857, on which day Michigan Agricultural College was formally 
dedicated. 



DELEGATES AND DISTINGUISHED GUESTS 



LIST OF DELEGATES AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED 

GUESTS 

*The star shows that a duly accredited delegate is vmable to be present. 

FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES 

University of Cambridge 

Dean Henry T. Bovey, F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L * 

University of Edinburg 

Professor Robert Wallace 

Friedrichs-Universitat 

Carl Steinbriick, Ph.D. 

University of Naples 
Pietro Cardiello 

McGill University 

Principal James W. Robertson, LL.D., C.M.G.* 

University of Toronto 

President G. C. Creelman, B.S.A., M.S. 

University of Upsala, Sweden 
Carl G. Dahl 

Ontario Agricultural College 

President G. C. Creelman, B.S.A., M.S. 

AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES 

Adrian College 

Rev. John W, Gray, M.A., D.D. 

Albion College 

President Samuel Dickie, LL.D. 

Alma College 

President August F. Bruske, D.D. 

Amherst College 

Superintendent S. O. Hartwell 
365 



366 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Baldwin University 

President George Blake Rogers, A.M., B.D., Ph.D., D.D. 

Blackburn College 

Victor M. Gore, A.B. 

Bucknell University 

President John Howard Harris, Ph.D., LL.D. 

CentraHState Normal School 

Professor William Bellis, B.S., B.Pd. 

Clark" University 

Ellsworth G. Lancaster, Ph.D., LL.D. 

Clemson Agricultural College 
Professor J. N. Harper 
Professor W. M. Riggs, M.E. 

Colorado State Agricultural College 
Professor C. P. Gillette, M.S. 

Colorado School of Mines 

President Victor Clifton Anderson, A.B., Sc.D. 

Connecticut Agricultural College 

President Rufus Whittaker Stimson, A.M., B.D. 

Cornell University 

Dean Liberty Hyde Bailey, M.S. 

Professor R. C. Carpenter, LL.D. 

Professor Thomas Forsyth Hunt, M.Sc, D.Sc. 

Professor L. B. Judson, B.S. 

Professor Raymond Allen Pearson, M.S. 

Professor John Craig, M.S. 

Professor M. V. Slingerland, Ph.D. 

Detroit College 

President R. D. Slevin, S.J.* 

EarUiam College 

Fred R. Hathaway, M.A. 

Georgia State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 
President Henry Clay White, Ph.D., D.C.L., LL.D. 

George Washington University 

Rev. Richard D. Harlan, D.D., LL.D. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 367 

Hamilton College 

Rev. Willard K. Spencer, A.M., D.D. 

Hampton Institute 

Director E. A. Bishop, B.S. 

Harvard University- 
Professor Theodore Lyman, Ph.D. 

Hillsdale College 

President Joseph William Mauck, A.M., LL.D. 

Hope CoUege 

President Gerrit J. Kollen, A.M., LL.D. 

Indiana University 

E. A. Bryan, A.M., LL.D. 
Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 

President A. B. Storms, A.M., D.D., LL.D.* 

Dean C. F. Curtiss, M.S.A. 

Professor L. H. Pammel, Ph.D. 

P. G. Holden, B.Pd., M.S. 

Kalamazoo College 

President A. Gaylord Slocum, A.M., LL.D. 

Kansas State Agricultural College 

President E. R. Nichols, B.D., B.S., A.M. 
Regent A. M. Story 

Kentucky State College 

President James Kennedy Patterson, Ph.D., LL.D. 

Lake Erie College 

Professor Inza McK. Allison, B.E. 

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical 
College 

Dr. Wm. H. Dalrymple, M.R.C.V.S. 

Massachusetts Agricultural College 

President Kenyon L. Butterfield, B.S., A.M. 

Wm. H. Bowker, B.S. 

Professor George E. Stone, Ph.D. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Professor Geo. W. Patterson, B.S., M.A., Ph.D. 



368 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Miami University 

Professor Benjamin Marshall Davis, M.S., Ph.D. 

Michigan College of Mines 

President F. W. McNair, B.S. 
Michigan State Normal College 

President L. H. Jones, A. M. 

Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College 
President John C. Hardy, A.M., LL.D. 

Missouri School of Mines 

Professor P. J. Wilkins, B.S. 

Mount Holyoke College 

Mrs. Leartus Connor, B.S. 

National Farm School 

Director John Hosea Washburn, A.M., Ph.D. 

New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 
President W. D. Gibbs, M.S. 
Professor E. Dwight Sanderson, B.S., B.S.A. 

North Dakota Agricultural College 
Professor C. B. Waldron, B.S. 

Northern State Normal School 

Principal James H. B. Kaye, A.M. 
Northwestern University 

President Abram Winegardner Harris, Sc.D., LL.D. 
Oberlin College 

Dean Charles E. St. John, B.S., Ph.D. 
Ohio State University 

Dean Homer C. Price, M.S.A. 

Professor William R. Lazenby, M.Agr. 
Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College 

Director William L. English, B.S. 

Professor W. R. Wright, B.S. 
Olivet College 

President Ellsworth G. Lancaster, Ph.D., LL.D. 
Oregon Agricultural College 

President W. J. Kerr, D.Sc. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 369 

Pennsylvania State College 

Vice-President Judson P. Welch, Ph.D. 
Professor H. E. Van Norman, B.S. 

Pomona College 

Professor Albert John Cook, D.Sc. 

Purdue University- 
President Winthrop Ellsworth Stone, A.M., Ph.D., LL.D. 
Professor W. C. Latta, M.S. 
Professor J. Troop, M.S. 
C. G. Woodbury, B.S. 

Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 
President Howard Edwards, LL.D. 

Rutgers College 

President W. H. S. Demarest, A.M., D.D. 
Professor Edward B. Voorhees, A.M., D.Sc. 
Professor J. G. Lipman, A.M., Ph.D. 

South Dakota College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 
President Robert L. Slagle, A.M., Ph.D. 
Director James W. Wilson, M.S.A. 

State College of Washington 

President Enoch A. Bryan, A.M., LL.D. 

Swarthmore College 

Ralph Stone, B.A., LL.B. 

Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College 
Professor Charles H. Alvord, B.S. 

Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute 
Charles W. Greene 

Union College 

Hon. Charles DeWitt Lawton, C.E., A.M. 

University of California 

President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Ph.D., LL.D. 
Hon. A. W. Foster 

University of Georgia 

President Henry Clay White, Ph.D., D.C.L., LL.D. 



370 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

University of Illinois 

President Edmund Janes James, A.M., Ph.D., LL.D.* 
Dean Eugene Davenport, M.S., M.Agr., LL.D. 
Superintendent Fred H. Rankin 
Professor H. W. Mumford, B.S. 

University of Maine 

President George Emory Fellows, Ph.D., L.H.D., LL.D . 
Dean Wm. D. Hurd, B.S. 
Professor M. J. Dorsey, B.S. 

University of Michigan 

President James Burrill Angell, A.M., LL.D. 
Professor Jacob Reighard, Ph.B. 
Professor Mortimer Elwyn Cooley, M.E., LL.D. 
Professor J. B. Pollock, Sc.D. 

University of Minnesota 

Professor Harry Snyder, B.S. 
Professor Samuel B. Green, B.S. 
Professor C. P. Bull, B.Agr. 

University of Missouri 

Professor F. B. Mumford, B.S. 
Dean H. J. Waters, B.S.A. 
P. J. Wilkins, B.S. 

University of Nebraska 

Dean Charles E. Bessey, Ph.D., LL.D. 
Director Albert Eugene Davisson, A.B. 
Professor H. R. Smith, B.S. 

University of Nevada 

Professor Henry Thurtell, B.S. 

University of Oklahoma 

President David R. Boyd, A.M., Ph.D. 

University of Rochester 

Professor Francis W. Kelsey, A.M. 

University of Tennessee 

Professor Brown Ayres, Ph.D., LL.D.* 
Director H. A. Morgan 
Professor Charles E. Ferris, B.S. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 371 

University of Vermont 

President Matthew Henry Buckham, D.D., LL.D. 

University of Wisconsin 

President Charles R. Van Hise, M.S., Ph.D.* 
Regent W. D. Hoard 
Dean William Arnon Henry, D.Sc. 
Professor Harry Luman Russell, M.S., Ph.D. 

University of Wyoming 

President Frederick M. Tisdel, Ph.D. 

Virginia Agricultural College and Experiment Station 
Dean Andrew M. Soule, B.S.A.* 

Washington and Lee University 

President George H. Denny, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D. 

Western College for Women 

Professor Mary F. Leach, Ph.D. 

Western State Normal School 

Principal Dwight B. Waldo, Ph.B., A.M. 

Wheaton College 

President Charles A. Blanchard, A.M., D.D. 

Williams College 

Leartus Connor, M.A., M.D. 

Tufts College 

President Frederick W. Hamilton, A.M., D.D., LL.D.* 

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS 

Arizona Experiment Station 

Director Robert Humphry Forbes, M.S. 

Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director L. G. Carpenter, M.S. 

Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director Edward H. Jenkins, Ph.D. 

Cuban Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director J. T. Crawley 
Nelson S. Mayo, B.S., M.D.C. 



372 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Delaware College Experiment Station 
\ y. Director H. Hayward, M.S.Agr. 

Florida Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director P. H. Rolfs, M.S. 

Illinois University Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director Eugene Davenport, M.Agr., LL.D. 

Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director Arthur Goss, M.S. 

Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station 

Director C. F. Curtiss, B.S.A., M.S.A. 

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station 

Director Charles William Burkett, M.Sc. 

Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director M. A. Scovell, Ph.D. 
Professor H. Gar man 

Maine Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director Chas. D. Woods, Sc.D. 

Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station 
Professor C. P. Close, M.S. 

Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director Wm. P. Brooks, Ph.D. 
Dr. George Edward Stone, Ph.D. 

Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director W. L. Hutchinson, M.S. 

Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director H. J. Waters, B.S. 

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director E. A. Burnett, B.S. 
Superintendent W. P. Snyder, M.S. 

New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station 
Jacob G. Lipman Ph.D. 

New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell 
Director Liberty Hyde Bailey, M.S. 
Professor R. A. Pearson, M.S. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 373 

New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva 
Director Whitman H. Jordan, M.S., D.Sc, LL.D. 
F. C. Stewart, M.Sc. 
P. J. Parrott, A.M. 
F. H. Hall, B.S. 

North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station 
Henry Luke Bolley, M.S. 

Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 

Director Charles Embree Thome, M.A. 
Hon. T. C. Laylin, B.S. 
O. D. Selby, B.S. 
John Cartwright, B.S. 
W. J. Green, B.S. 

Oklahoma Experiment Station 
Director W. L. English, B.S. 

Pennsylvania Experiment Station 

Director Henry Prentiss Armsby, Ph.D., LL.D. 

Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director H. J. Wheeler, M.A., Ph.D. 

South Carolina Experiment Station 

Director Joseph Nelson Harper, M.Agr. 

South Dakota Experiment Station 

Director James Wilbur Wilson, M.S. 

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director Louis Adelbert Clinton, M.S. 

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station 
Acting Director J. W. Carson, B.S. 

Utah Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director Elmer Darwin Ball, M.S. 
P. A. Yoder, Ph.D. 

Vermont Experiment Station 

Director Joseph L. Hills, D.Sc. 

West Virgina Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director James H. Stewart, A.M. 



374 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station 
Director William Arnon Henry, D.Sc. 
Professor Harry Luman Russell, M.S., Ph.D. 

Wyoming Experiment Station 

Director B. C. Buffum, M.S. 

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 

American Academy of Arts and Sciences 

President James Bvirrill Angell, A.M., LL.D. 
American Antiquarian Society 

President James Burrill Angell, A.M., LL.D. 

American Chemical Society 

Professor Frank S. Kedzie, M.S. 

American Institute of Electrical Engineers 
Professor Morgan Brooks, Ph.B., M.E. 

American Philosophical Society 

Director William Powell Wilson, D.Sc. 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

Professor Paul M. Chamberlain, M.S. 

Professor M. E. Cooley, LL.D. 

Mr. Alex. Dow 

Mr. F. E. Kirby 
Geological Society of America 

Frank Leverett, B.Sc. 
Michigan Academy of Science 

Professor James B. Pollock, M.S., Sc.D. 
Michigan Engineering Society 

President Frank Hodgman, M.S. 
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society 

President Clarence M. Burton, S.B., LL.B. 
National Academy of Sciences 

Director Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, Ph.D., ScD., LL.D. 

National Educational Association 

Henry R. Pattengill, B.S. 
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers 

Frank E. Kirby 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 375 

GENERAL AND TECHNICAL SOCIETIES 

American Cheviot Sheep Society 
Secretary F. E. Dawley 

American Oxford Down Record Association 
L. N. Olmsted 

American Rambouillet Sheep Breeders' Association 
R. M. Wood 

American Shetland Pony Club 
William R. Goodwin, M.S. 

American Shropshire Sheep Registry Association 
T. A. Bixby 

American Tamworth Swine Record 
Secretary E. N. Ball, B.S. 

A)n:shire Breeders' Association 
Hon. Henry R. Niles, M.D. 

Holstein-Friesian Association of America 
President R. C. Reed 

Massachusetts State Forestry Department 
State Forester F. W. Rane 

Michigan Dairymen's Association 
S. J. Wilson 

Michigan Forestry Commission 

President Charles W. Garfield, M.S. 

Michigan Merino Sheep Breeders' Association 
Secretary E. N. Ball, M.S. 

Michigan State Agricultural Society 
Secretary I. H. Butterfield 

Michigan State Grange 

Hon. George B. Horton 

Michigan State Live Stock Sanitary Commission 
H. H. Hinds 
C. A. Tyler 
John McKay 



376 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Polled Durham Breeders' Association 
S. E. Whitman 

Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science 
Henry Prentiss Armsby, Ph.D., LL.D. 

State Association of Farmers' Clubs of Michigan 
President L. Whitney Watkins, B.S. 

AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISM 

American Agriculturist 

M. G. Kains, B.S., M.S. 
Chicago Live Stock World 

A. C. Halliwell 
Farm and Fireside ' 

John C. Barnett 
Farm and Home 

Glenn C. Sevey, B.S.* 

Farmers' Advocate 

W. D. Albright 

The Gleaner 

James Slocum 

E. L. Keasey 

The Kansas Farmer 

I. D. Graham, A.M. 

The Michigan Farmer 
I. R. Waterbury 

The National Stockman and Farmer 

F. D. Wells, A.B. 
T. D. Harman 

The Ohio Farmer 

A. J. Anderson, B.S. 

Orange Judd Farmer 

Clarence A. Shamel, M.S. 

Park's Floral Magazine 
Geo. W. Park, B.Sc. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 377 

Rural New Yorker 

Herbert Winslow Collingwood, LL.D. 
Sugar Beet Culturist 

S. O. Burgdorf 

OTHER DISTINGUISHED GUESTS 

Representing the Federal Government 
President Theodore Roosevelt 
Secretary William Loeb, Jr. 
Assistant Secretary Maurice C. Latta 
Surgeon General P. M. Rixey 
Senator Julius C. Barrows 
Senator William Alden Smith 
Congressman Edwin Denby 
Congressman Washington Gardner 
Congressman George Alvin Loud 
Congressman Samuel W. Smith 
Congressman Charles Elroy Townsend 
Conunissioner of Education Elmer Ellsworth Brown 

From the Department of Agriculture 
Secretary James Wilson, LL.D. 
Assistant Secretary William M. Hays, M.Agr. 
Forester Gifford Pinchot, Sc.D. 

A. C. True, Ph.D., Sc.D., Director of OflSce of Experiment Stations 
E. W. Allen, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Office of Experiment 

Stations 
Charles Fay Wheeler, M.S., D.Sc. 
William Warner Tracy, M.S., D.Sc. 
John Hamilton, B.S., M.S.A., Director of Farmers' Institutes 

Representing the State of Michigan 
Governor Fred Maltby Warner and Staff 
The State Officials 
The Justices of the Supreme Court 
The Members of the Senate 
The Members of the House of Representatives 



Herr N. Kaumanns, Landwirthschaftlicher Sachverstandiger fiir die 

United States of America. 
Lewis Griffin Gorton, M.S., President of Michigan State Agricultural 

College, 1893-95. 



Sitr iX4 i^tiij, 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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